Ex-husband charged over murder of Cowes mum Samantha Fraser
A SECRET phone used by the ex-husband of murdered Phillip Island mother Samantha Fraser was tracked to the island the day she was allegedly killed, a court has heard.
Law & Order
Don't miss out on the headlines from Law & Order. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A SECRET phone used by the ex-husband of Phillip Island mother Samantha Fraser was tracked to the island the day she was killed, a court has heard.
Her ex, Adrian Basham, 41, is behind bars following a court appearance on a murder charge yesterday.
Detectives charged him yesterday morning, 10 days after the body of Ms Fraser was found in the garage of her home in Cowes.
COWES LOCALS IN SHOCK AS CHARGES LAID
Police allege they have DNA evidence, and that data from the phone showed he rode his motorcycle to Cowes on July 23 to kill Ms Fraser, 38, the mother of his three children.
DNA from under Mr Basham’s fingernails — and how and when he received a scratch on his nose — will also be crucial to the case.
The Herald Sun understands police are probing whether the motive for the murder was because he was already facing nine charges for attacking his ex-wife.
He had travelled to San Remo — the mainland gateway to Phillip Island — and stayed there on July 22, the night before the mother of his children was found dead.
He had arranged to go on a motorcycle ride with a friend, but never showed.
Police allege he was using a mobile registered under a fake name and that the phone’s data showed it had travelled around the island on July 23.
A similar motorcycle was captured on CCTV entering the island between 7am and 8am that day, and leaving again just after midday.
Ms Fraser, a local psychologist, had stopped for coffee after the school run and arrived home about 11.30am.
Police went to her Seagrove Way home about 4.30pm when she failed to pick up her three children from Cowes Primary School.
Her body was found in the garage in what initially appeared to be a suicide.
Data tracked via hi-tech location capabilities on Mr Basham’s secret phone, and CCTV footage of the motorbike, formed part of the evidence which led the homicide squad to swoop on his home in Paynesville, Gippsland, early yesterday and arrest him.
Mr Basham was charged with one count of murder and appeared via videolink from the Bairnsdale courthouse to Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court in Morwell.
About the same time that detectives arrested him, the head of the homicide squad released photographs of a motorcycle and a man in a black hood seen on the footpath near Ms Fraser’s home.
LOCALS HELP POLICE IN SAMANTHA FRASER MURDER PROBE
Inspector Tim Day said Ms Fraser’s murder was a crime that “strikes the heart of our own humanity”. “How does society reconcile the slaying of an innocent young mother in the safety of her family home?” he said.
Detective Senior Constable Luke Farrell told the court yesterday that three days after Ms Fraser was found dead, police interviewed Mr Basham and noticed a scratch on his face.
A friend who saw the accused on Sunday, July 22 — the night before Ms Fraser’s death — told police he did not see the scratch that night.
“(He) indicates that he had no injuries to his face at that time,” Sen-Constable Farrell told the court.
“On the 26th of July, 2018, the accused has attended at Melbourne West police complex … he presented with a scratch on the bridge of his nose.”
He said Mr Basham had not consented to giving an “intimate sample” of DNA.
But a physical examination had found material under his fingernails which matched the forensic profile of samples taken from the crime scene in Cowes.
Police successfully applied in court to force Mr Basham to provide further DNA.
Clean-shaven and dressed in green pants and a grey jacket, the accused sat with his hands in his lap while his lawyers fought for hours to suppress information relating to accusations against him.
His lawyer, John Sutton, argued media reports and comments on social media posed a threat to the safety of the accused, his children and extended family.
Mr Basham at times appeared agitated as he sat in the dock, shaking his head at mention of recent media reports.
Magistrate Louis Hill disagreed with the defence’s argument that the reporting had been unfair or posed a threat to Mr Basham.
“The reporting could be described as sensational but the murder of a well-known person in a small town is sensational. This is sensational and we would expect the media to report it as such,” he said.
Mr Basham stared around the room, repeatedly maintaining steely eye contact with reporters. He will reappear in court on January 10.
MORE HERALD SUN NEWS:
LITTLE GIRL DIES IN DOG ATTACK