Social worker’s horror revelations in Samantha Fraser trial

Samantha Fraser was “terrified” of her estranged husband, who allegedly told her he would “destroy” her before her death, a court has been told.

Samantha Fraser told a social worker her estranged husband threatened her saying, “I will destroy you” just months before she was found dead in her garage.
Mental health social worker Donna Zander told a Supreme Court murder trial that the Phillip Island mum was “terrified” of her ex Adrian Basham, and that she was “probably the most hyper vigilant person” she’d seen in 35 years of practice.
Ms Fraser was “shaky” and “jumpy at any noise”, and was assessed as having extremely high PTSD and depression.

Flowers and tributes laid at the Cultural Centre in Cowes, Phillip Island, for Samantha Fraser. Picture: Alex Coppel

“Samantha was terrified of Mr Basham,” Ms Zander told the court.

“He had actively said to her, ‘You watch me, I will destroy you,” she read from notes of a counselling session on February 16, 2018.
The mum-of-three told psychologist Terence Melvin that her former husband said, “If I can’t have you, no-one will”, while social worker Sharon Churchill was told he threatened her that, “You never know when someone will break into your house and do you harm”.

Ms Fraser was found strung up by a rope in her Cowes garage on July 23, 2018.
Police allege Mr Basham laid in wait as she dropped their kids off at school before attacking and killing her.
Mr Basham admits to injuring his former wife in the garage that day, but claims she was alive when he left, with his lawyers saying her death was a suicide.

Adrian Basham lawyers says Ms Fraser’s death was a suicide. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Ms Fraser’s friend Christina Aitken recalled how she was “in really good spirits” at her birthday party the day before she died, was “future focused” and speaking of plans with her children.

But when Ms Fraser left her kids waiting for her to pick them up from school the next day, Ms Aitken quickly became “concerned” because she “never” left her kids unattended.
Ms Aitken waited with the kids, tried calling their mum “multiple times” then took them to the school office where staff called police and Bass Coast Health, where Ms Fraser had missed a midday counselling appointment.
Soon after, Ms Aitkin received a call from her husband: “He told me that Samantha was dead,” she said.