Australia Samantha Murphy, 51, last seen leaving her property to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest, Ballarat 100km NW of Melbourne, 4 Feb 2024 #7

[FromGermany1]

"He may have significant mental health challenges, which then arise from now being charged with murder in what everybody understands is a very highly-publicised case," defence lawyer Michael Tamanika said.https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-07/samantha-murphy-suppression-order-explainer/103561712

"Tamanika said releasing the name could cause prejudice to his client, who had been suffering from poor mental health since he was arrested."

Samantha Murphy murder accused appears in court

The Scotsburn man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was arrested about 6am on Wednesday at his home.

www.1news.co.nz

All bad since he was arrested....

Mental health challenges? Of course! I assume, there is the fear, poor SM might be found, and parents/friends/the public will learn of the probably awful truth. Not a good prospect.

 

[Kemug]

Mental health challenges? Of course! I assume, there is the fear, poor SM might be found, and parents/friends/the public will learn of the probably awful truth. Not a good prospect.

And his girlfriend will probably dump him, if she hasn't already.

 

[SleutherGirl]

And his girlfriend will probably dump him, if she hasn't already.

I hope she has gone far far away from him.

 

[Deleted member 293720]

Are you thinking he is going to admit he deliberately killed Samantha? In order to play the Mental Health card.

I think it is always a possibility that he will try to plea to a lesser charge (manslaughter or culpable driving) once he has seen the brief of evidence that the police have against him.

I will never forget Borce pleading guilty to manslaughter right before his murder trial was about to start. And we never found out what happened that day. (Not that it matters, in the grand scheme of things.)

imo

Of course, he won't admit,

I would be surprised if the accused is talking to police and telling them where Samantha is either

I think the police are following other lines of inquiry

I do hope the police find her by their own means, so the accused won't receive any 'special treatment'

 

[Angeline]

Mental health challenges? Of course! I assume, there is the fear, poor SM might be found, and parents/friends/the public will learn of the probably awful truth. Not a good prospect.

How surprising! Being charged with murder is not good for one's mental health.

No wonder there was so much public outrage over the name suppression.

 

[Deleted member 340727]

Are you thinking he is going to admit he deliberately killed Samantha? In order to play the Mental Health card.

I think it is always a possibility that he will try to plea to a lesser charge (manslaughter or culpable driving) once he has seen the brief of evidence that the police have against him.

I will never forget Borce pleading guilty to manslaughter right before his murder trial was about to start. And we never found out what happened that day. (Not that it matters, in the grand scheme of things.)

M/sl. and an interplay of p/tropic subs. themes w. a dash of amnesia. You can feel it coming. MOO

 

[SouthAussie]

M/sl. and an interplay of p/tropic subs. themes w. a dash of amnesia. You can feel it coming. MOO

I don't understand the abbreviations.

 

[Whatson]

Australia has very poor quality produced drugs due to its island border and world class border security. Cocaine is very difficult to be brought in, so it's expensive and often then cut/mixed with other substances.

Meth/ice is very common throughout the country. Some regional areas suffer from very high useage.

I believe Australia ranks somewhere in the top 5 of highest consumers in the world.

 

[Whatson]

I don't understand the abbreviations.

Me either. The forum is full of them and difficult for noobs to understand. They should have a pinned explanation at the top of the threads.

"Cow goes MOOOOOOO"

 

[Deleted member 293720]

New search for Victorian mother Samantha Murphy's body comes to an end

www.9news.com.au

The reporter has said the accused is still not co-operating with police

and unlikely he's the one that led police to the search site

 

[Deleted member 340727]

manslaughter
psychotropic
w. with
w/o. without

 

[Kemug]

How surprising! Being charged with murder is not good for one's mental health.

No wonder there was so much public outrage over the name suppression.

He would probably be absolutely happy and just fine if he hadn't been caught. Maybe. But for how long? And how long before he did it again?

 

[SouthAussie]

manslaughter
psychotropic
w. with
w/o. without

Thanks ... it was the manslaughter and psychotropic abbreviations that had me beat.

Me either. The forum is full of them and difficult for noobs to understand. They should have a pinned explanation at the top of the threads.

"Cow goes MOOOOOOO"

Here is a link to the WS lingo .... Websleuths lingo

 

[SouthAussie]

He would probably be absolutely happy and just fine if he hadn't been caught. Maybe. But for how long? And how long before he did it again?

Yes, I agree. His age of alleged offending in such a serious matter is a big concern.

Like others, I have wondered if the crime against Sam is an escalation of the crime against Sissy.

imo

 

[Deleted member 340727]

The reporter has said the accused is still not co-operating with police

But we expected this. Where is the reporter getting their information from Nifty is there an inference of direction as in police or are they drawing their own conclusions. MOO

 

[drsleuth]

Absolutely. I 100% agree with you DrSleuth and with the outrage expressed by Trooper and others re this tragic, brutal and senseless alleged murder.

In no way am I excusing or justifying illicit drug use. I have never touched an illicit drug in my life, nor do I wish to, nor would I encourage anyone else to do so. As I have said, my view is there is no “safe” drug use. Sadly, illicit substances are dangerous to individuals, families and to society at large.

I am also not advocating the abuse of mental health diagnoses by offenders seeking to make excuses for unacceptable behaviour.

The reason I have outlined potential mental health defenses that the accused may seek to use is for informational purposes only. For aside from matters of the psyche,and literary quotes, there is little other informed information I can contribute on this forum.

But hey, I will happily retire from being the devils advocate…

I most definitely don’t want to be misperceived.

To be very clear, I am as outraged as everyone else is regarding this senseless loss of life, and loss of safety and innocence for us all, most particularly those in Ballarat who are deeply scarred, shocked and grieving. My heart weeps especially for Samantha’s family and the unimaginable grief they are bearing now, and will continue to bear every day of their lives...

Keep up all your great work,websleuths. I will take a break for a bit.

I perfectly understand that you were playing devil's advocate, you made that very clear

I was only giving a counter argument & how I don't see that defense ( IF ever used ) would get him anywhere.

How is he going to prove that he MAY have been under the influence of a mind altering illicit substance anyway?

There are very few facts that we actually know about the accused, but lots of rumours & talk on social media.

The facts of this case that we know are

1. PS has been charged with the alleged murder of Samantha.
2. The alleged murder happened at Mt Clear about 8am
3. Police say it was not a hit & run incident
4. Police say it was a deliberate attack
5. The accused was arrested on the 6th March & charged on the 7th March


Anymore I've missed?

 

[Deleted member 340727]

How is he going to prove that he MAY have been under the influence of a mind altering illicit substance anyway?

This is an excellent point. I know we have at least 2 RNs on board here
Can an in taking RN please elaborate on this particular point ie. bloods? Thank you.

 

[Poirot's niece]

This is an excellent point. I know we have at least 2 RNs on board here
Can an in taking RN please elaborate on this particular point ie. bloods? Thank you.

I think the obvious proof of sorts would be from witness statements of his friends and those he was socialising on the Saturday night and early hours of Sunday morning. I don't know if it''ll proof enough-in the absence of blood and breath tests from that day, the witness accounts are likely to form part of likliehoods, without being definitive. Unless someone is willing to testify they witnessed him ingesting worrying levels of drugs and alcohol at intervals until a particular time.

 

[Deleted member 293720]

I am still not 100% certain that the accused girlfriend hasn't been involved in some way

Maybe another reason the accused is not talking

The police would be withholding more info

The new search area is near the house where the accused was arrested with his GF

 

[Trooper]

I think the obvious proof of sorts would be from witness statements of his friends and those he was socialising on the Saturday night and early hours of Sunday morning. I don't know if it''ll proof enough-in the absence of blood and breath tests from that day, the witness accounts are likely to form part of likliehoods, without being definitive. Unless someone is willing to testify they witnessed him ingesting worrying levels of drugs and alcohol at intervals until a particular time.

The next hurdle those particular witnesses will have to jump over would be how far into ingesting drugs that night were they.... They would have to convince a jury of skeptical Victorian jurors that they were mere observers and not participants. Either way, they have to make their story , and themselves, appealing to 12 jurors, and they have to make HIM appealing to 12 jurors, and that may be too big of a chunk of Dead Sea fruit for anyone to swallow.

The mental state of the accused will be a matter for the jury to decide, doctors can have opinions, and express them in scientific terms, his barrister may have long stories of a troubled child, etc.. but it all comes down to what the jury believe, what they choose to believe, and what they decide on collectively. It's nutty system , but it works. . .. there will , for sure, be some women on that jury, even though the defence will fight hard to keep them out, they will not succeed 12 times, some women will slip thru , so that a diverse group of perspectives is on hand..