Killer Adrian Basham is charged with raping his wife on three occasions in 2014 and 2016
A Phillip Island mum murdered by her estranged husband was due to testify against him over allegations he had raped her years earlier, it can now be revealed.
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The estranged husband of slain Phillip Island mother Samantha Fraser is accused of repeatedly raping her in their family home years before he murdered her.
Adrian Basham is charged with raping his wife on three occasions in 2014 and 2016.
Ms Fraser was found hanging her in Cowes garage the day after her 38th birthday in July 2018 after failing to pick up her three young children from school.
Basham, 44, was last month found guilty of murder following a six-week Supreme Court trial.
It took less than two days for 12 jurors to find Basham guilty of brutally killing his estranged wife in the home she shared with the couple’s children and staging a suicide scene.
It can now be revealed, Basham was at the time of Ms Fraser’s murder also facing allegations he raped her years earlier.
Ms Fraser was due to testify against her estranged husband at a committal hearing on July 30, 2018 – telling a friend she was “ready for court and to tell her story”.
Ms Fraser was killed by Basham on July 23.
Following the lifting of a suppression order, the Herald Sun can report details of the alleged sexual assaults as told to the jury in Basham’s murder trial.
The court heard in 2014 Basham allegedly locked Ms Fraser in the pantry and raped her while her children were nearby.
“Samantha Fraser said something like, ‘What are you doing? The kids are out there. No.’ But the accused pulled down her underwear,” Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC told the jury.
Basham is accused of raping Ms Fraser on two further occasions in 2014 and 2016 while she was asleep.
Ms Rogers said during the latter alleged assault, Ms Fraser “froze for a moment before pushing herself off the accused and getting out of bed”.
“She told the accused, ‘You can’t do that, I was asleep, that is rape.’” Ms Rogers told the jury.
Basham denied the allegations and has been committed to stand trial in the County Court.
He will face a pre-sentence hearing for the single count of murder in September.
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