Samantha Fraser’s accused killer told to ‘focus on the future’ court heard
A man accused of murdering his estranged wife - Cowes mum Samantha Fraser - told his psychologist two days after the killing that he was unable to attend an appointment, a court has heard.
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A man accused of murdering his estranged wife told his psychologist two days after the killing that he was unable to attend an appointment, a court has heard.
Adrian Basham, 42, had also been advised by his father to “focus on the future” and to have a “small rear-vision mirror”, the court heard.
Samantha Fraser, 38, was killed at her home in Seagrove Way, Cowes, last July 23, in what police initially thought was a suicide.
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Concerns for her welfare were raised after she failed to pick up her three kids from Cowes Primary School.
Mr Basham was charged with murder 11 days after Ms Fraser’s body was found.
Details of a hearing at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court last October can now be revealed after an order suppressing publication expired yesterday.
That hearing was told Mr Basham attended regular sessions with a clinical psychologist after his marriage breakdown, during which he spoke of his concern his wife, also a psychologist, was having an affair and of his grief at not seeing their three children since September 2017.
His psychologist told the court she had challenged Mr Basham’s beliefs that his wife was having an affair.
She said: “I tried to challenge his assumptions of his wife’s affairs. I told him: ‘She’s a busy woman, a psychologist with three kids. Do you think she has time for an affair?’”
In her last months Ms Fraser made moves to secure her home, including changing the locks.
She was killed about a week after her parents, who had come to live with her, went overseas to New York to visit her brother.
Mr Basham’s psychologist told the court she had texted him to confirm a July 26 appointment. He responded on July 25: “Sorry I won’t be attending”.
She told the court that she had then held “no concerns” about him.
The court heard that in previous sessions Mr Basham voiced concerns about interactions between his wife and a male family psychologist.
Mr Basham told his psychologist the man had stroked Ms Fraser’s back when she began crying after an in-session dispute and that a phone bill showed a 50-minute call between them, made without his knowledge.
The psychologist told the court Mr Basham’s family had urged him to better manage his emotions. His sister attended one counselling session with him, and his father advised him to move on.
Police allege Mr Basham cancelled plans for a motorcycle ride with a mate on the day of the murder, and that a bike similar to his was seen on Phillip Island that day.
It is also alleged he used a phone registered in a fake name in the Cowes area that day, and that material beneath his fingernails matched crime scene samples.
And according to a friend, a scratch on Mr Basham’s nose had not been there the day before.
On Thursday, the court heard Mr Basham had fired his previous lawyers and had applied for legal aid. The matter will return to court on March 21.