Man charged with Samah Baker murder alleged drove to McDonalds, Westfield with body in car
Missing Sydney woman Samah Baker’s accused killer James Hachem allegedly drove to Maccas and a shopping centre with her body in car, a court heard.
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- Missing woman: Police conduct forensic search at Nowra
- Man charged with Samah Baker’s murder was known to her
Sydney woman Samah Baker’s alleged killer drove her body to a McDonald’s drive-through and then left her in the car at a shopping centre for hours while he went for a job interview, a court heard.
Hurstville Grove man James Hachem has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 30-year-old on-again-off-again lover last year and her body has still not been found.
The 34-year-old and Ms Baker were “friends with benefits” before he allegedly killed her in a “crime of passion”, the Supreme Court heard on Thursday.
Hachem admits he was the last person to see her alive and he was captured on security footage with her at the Vibe Hotel in North Sydney in the hours before she disappeared.
He is making a bid for bail, with defence barrister Daniel McMahon arguing a depressed Ms Baker had threatened to kill herself in the past.
Ms Baker was dropped to her Parramatta unit by a friend in the early hours of January 4, 2019, where the Crown alleges Hachem killed her.
Mr McMahon argued nothing was heard by her housemate or neighbours, and Hachem must have then transported her body down two flights of stairs into his car before heading to North Parramatta McDonalds drive-through at 5.15am.
“How then does he manage to kill Ms Baker without anybody knowing and without any evidence of a struggle?” Mr McMahon said.
“There is no body, no crime scene.”
Crown prosecutor Fiona Gray said two blood spots with Ms Baker’s DNA profile were found on a piece of carpet from Hachem’s car that had been cut out and hidden in a wardrobe of his family home.
But Mr McMahon said this was “at best peripheral forensic evidence” against him in the circumstantial case.
The Crown alleges Hachem then drove to Hurstville Westfield and left Ms Baker’s body in the car park for five-and-a-half hours while he went for a job interview, the court heard.
Ms Gray said that afternoon Hachem bought gloves, plastic bags and other cleaning items before driving out of Sydney towards Canberra and buying a digging tool.
Police searched bushland near Goulburn and South Nowra but there was no breakthrough, and Mr McMahon said there’s no proof Hachem travelled to a rural area to dump Ms Baker’s body.
Mr McMahon said in a previous relationship, Ms Baker had threatened to throw herself in front of a train.
“We know, and there is cogent evidence of, a history of mental illness, of depression, of self harm,” he said.
Hachem, who has no criminal history, was charged with Ms Baker’s murder in March 2019 and he may remain in custody for up to two-and-a-half years before facing trial, the court heard.
Mr McMahon said prosecution fears that if released, Hachem may return to Ms Baker’s burial site to destroy evidence or masquerade as her on social media to confound police was “beyond speculative”.
Justice Geoffrey Bellew has reserved his bail decision.