Australia Samantha Murphy, 51, last seen leaving her property to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest, Ballarat, 4 Feb 2024 *Arrest* #10

[Trooper]

Just FYI.

As general guide, the fees charged by a Barrister, in Melbourne are around $1000.00 per hour. Per Hour. That's for a senior, say, a KC , a Silk, a junior would be charging around $600.00 per hour, and quite often a case requires both a senior and a junior counsel,, not at all unusual. Galbally is not a 'junior'.

Using simple arithmetic, one could calculate that making the announcement that he is the barrister would attract a fee of around $1000.00 for that appearance. Doesn't take into account the conference or conferences that took place to organise the whole thing. Just the announcement.

Running along beneath this fee is his local solicitors fee, the bloke from Ballarat who is the instructing solicitor to the Barrister. He would be charging around $ 500.00 to $800.00 per consult. Maybe more., depends on how many staff he has on the matter.

 

[wallyworld]

I had similar thoughts. The suppression order possibly in place to give them a bit of time to be relocated.

Possible reasons why the family has relocated:

Perhaps they have been able to assist police with the investigation which therefore makes them potential witnesses.

https://victimsandwitnesses.cdpp.gov.au/going-court/going-court/dealing-media

If you are a witness, the CDPP strongly recommends that you avoid talking to the media until after the case has finished. This is to protect the case, and your evidence, from being compromised or challenged by anything you say outside the court.

You don’t have to speak to the media at any time, either before, after or during the case you are involved in. If you have spoken to the media before, you don’t have to keep giving interviews or feel that you have to make any other comments.​

• The CDPP has a dedicated media team that handles all media enquiries. You can refer journalists to the team if you don’t want to answer questions.​
• If you do want to speak to the media, we recommend you discuss this with us first so we can give you advice about anything that may affect the case.​
• If you are not a witness in a case, you can talk to the media at any time unless there is a suppression order in place, or the court has ordered you not to.​

The media reported that the accused was housesitting at the time, but if my memory serves me right his normal home address was with his parents.
Did his parents give police permission to search their home and in doing so decided that relocation would be less intrusive on them as a family. If this was the case I imagine the police would have had to be present when they packed up to leave to ensure that incriminating items (if any) were not removed.

 

[SouthAussie]

What kind of payment would legal aid fees entail?

You can browse through the fee schedule provided at this link.

Table F – Lump sum fees for County Court and Supreme Court stage of an indictable crime matter

Table F sets out the fees payable by our organisation for all indictable crime matters at the County Court or Supreme Court stage.

www.handbook.vla.vic.gov.au

 

[wallyworld]

As per my previous post, the media are respecting the privacy of Greg Lynn's wife, Erin Patterson's sister. Same, same.

imo

Same, same, but perhaps different!
Parents may now be considered witnesses if they have provided police with information.

 

[Kemug]

Why on earth would the media follow PS' family around? They haven't allegedly committed murder.

It may be worse in some countries other than Australia. Hence some differing opinions here.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Same, same, but perhaps different!
Parents may now be considered witnesses if they have provided police with information.

Yes, If he has told them information, and it involves others, it can put his family at risk, another possible reason he's keeping his mouth shut, or he's talking to the AFP and police are telling the media that he's still not co-operating, to protect himself and family.
He's not telling where Sam is, as he might not know

 

[wallyworld]

I think the lawyer was "organised" by Church channels.
JMO

There is no precedent in Australia for the Catholic Church to pay legal fees other than trials of Priests and Brothers accused of abuse

 

[LozVic]

Just a thought I don’t own a smart watch but have read in comments before that they can call 000 if they detect a fall or heart rate issue is it possible that her watch has done this and the incident has been recorded by the 000 call centre hence how they knew when and where she was killed and that it was a deliberate act ?

 

[Sceptical]

How are they so certain!!!! . By they , I presume you mean VICPOL. That is the question of the year. That they are certain I have absolutely no doubt at all, but how, how, how.,

Just to reiterate about what VICPOL Is unequivocally certain about ( sorry for the redundancy) .. keeping in mind that VICPOL stated these events minus a body.

That Samantha Murphy is deceased. ( the search for a living person was called off on the strength of this belief )

That she was deceased at around 8am '

That she died at Mt Clear.

That Mrs Murphy was murdered. not killed accidentally, or accidentally injured herself, . No one else, just Mrs Murphy.

That Patrick Stephensen murdered Mrs Murphy. No one else, just Patrick Stephenson.

That her body is missing.

All , as Channel 7 would say WILL BE REVEALED.

I always appreciate your comments Trooper, they are always well thought through.

I’ll preface this with it all being entirely hypothetical and my opinion only.

I recall, in the very early days of SM going missing, a local resident shared footage they had taken of someone driving extremely fast down the dirt roads in the area. The resident had been walking and, seeing the fast car approach, had taken their phone out of their pocket and filmed the hoon out of frustration and anger. They shared the video simply demonstrate that some people drive erratically down those bush tracks and to explore the possibility that SM had been hit and was lying down the side of a track somewhere.

What if SM had similar frustrations? Perhaps she saw the car hooning towards her and takes her phone out to video. PS sees that she is videoing and realises that further evidence of him driving dangerously will not bode well with his already impending court case. Maybe, as others have noted, he is on a restricted license and isn’t even meant to be driving.

Panicked and enraged (possibly still drug affected from the night before, but not necessarily), he either swerves, doubles back or stops, but either way, he has an altercation with her - he attacks her in some way, hitting her with the car or physically chasing her down. Either way, the video is still rolling and his deliberate attack is sent to the cloud, providing the irrefutable evidence that we are all curious for.

If he hit her with the car, it may explain why the police were initially asking about information about a damaged car.

He does not leave the scene (giving police plausibility to refute the “hit and run” scenario), but instead loads her into the back of his car.

A deliberate attack such as this may have been enough to warrant the murder charge, however, if we aren’t satisfied that is the case, perhaps she was still alive at this point, unconscious, which is possibly substantiated by her watch data. Further panicked about the situation he has found himself in, he ends her life in the back of his car, resulting in a substantial about of blood / dna in the back of his car (the has been talked about in other forums but is unsubstantiated).

Either way, her heart stopping is substantiated by her watch data, giving LA the confidence that she died at Mt Clear at 8am.

A scenario such as this would offer a motive and sufficient evidence. Again, just my opinion and entirely hypothetical.

As you say @Trooper , all will be revealed in time!!

 

[Scooby-Doo]

As per my previous post, the media are respecting the privacy of Greg Lynn's wife, Erin Patterson's sister. Same, same.

imo

Family of pilot accused of murdering missing campers speaks out

The family of pilot Gregory Lynn have said they are 'completely traumatised' by the 55-year-old's arrest after he was charged with murdering missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[SouthAussie]

Family of pilot accused of murdering missing campers speaks out

The family of pilot Gregory Lynn have said they are 'completely traumatised' by the 55-year-old's arrest after he was charged with murdering missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Thanks, scooby. But I am done with this subject at the moment.
I have expressed my opinion, and it doesn't fit your theory.
Nor does Lynn's family appropriately and kindly acknowledging the suffering of Russell's and Carol's families.

imo

 

[Trooper]

Family of pilot accused of murdering missing campers speaks out

The family of pilot Gregory Lynn have said they are 'completely traumatised' by the 55-year-old's arrest after he was charged with murdering missing campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay.

www.dailymail.co.uk

We don't know if this family sought out the Daily Mail, or if the Daily Mail tracked them down. ... Either of these possibilities have merit, ,.. some people do these things, and some people don't. Some people think that appealing to Daily Mail readers will be of benefit, and some people think perhaps not.

I am sure that , by god, the Daily Mail would be using anything they had, ( after all , they hacked a dead childs phone for a story ) but have been unsuccessful so far, which leads me to think that the Stephensons are in a very comforting zone, their daughters , ditto... What could they possibly add? and if their son is not speaking to anyone, what a terrible thing if his mum and dad blithered all over the awful DM?

 

[Trooper]

There is no precedent in Australia for the Catholic Church to pay legal fees other than trials of Priests and Brothers accused of abuse

are you sure about this, WW?? Not counting the compensation fees, and hush money fees to victims, etc? you don't think these judgements count as legal fees?

a small sample. ...

https://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/hush-fund-catholic-church-paid-43-million-to-keep-abuse-secret/news-story/5092b669c77072952754eb1aeab5435f

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN15V046/#:~:text=Australia%27s%20Catholic%20Church%20has%20paid%20A%24276%20million%20%28%24213,church%27s%20schools%2C%20orphanages%20and%20residences%20has%20been%20revealed.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

Thanks, scooby. But I am done with this subject at the moment.
I have expressed my opinion, and it doesn't fit your theory.
Nor does Lynn's family appropriately and kindly acknowledging the suffering of Russell's and Carol's families.

imo

We all have our own opinions, and that's all good. I feel a lot more will be coming out

 

[Cliff Hardy]

Possible reasons why the family has relocated:

Perhaps they have been able to assist police with the investigation which therefore makes them potential witnesses.

View attachment 507798

https://victimsandwitnesses.cdpp.gov.au/going-court/going-court/dealing-media

If you are a witness, the CDPP strongly recommends that you avoid talking to the media until after the case has finished. This is to protect the case, and your evidence, from being compromised or challenged by anything you say outside the court.

You don’t have to speak to the media at any time, either before, after or during the case you are involved in. If you have spoken to the media before, you don’t have to keep giving interviews or feel that you have to make any other comments.​

• The CDPP has a dedicated media team that handles all media enquiries. You can refer journalists to the team if you don’t want to answer questions.​
• If you do want to speak to the media, we recommend you discuss this with us first so we can give you advice about anything that may affect the case.​
• If you are not a witness in a case, you can talk to the media at any time unless there is a suppression order in place, or the court has ordered you not to.​

The media reported that the accused was housesitting at the time, but if my memory serves me right his normal home address was with his parents.
Did his parents give police permission to search their home and in doing so decided that relocation would be less intrusive on them as a family. If this was the case I imagine the police would have had to be present when they packed up to leave to ensure that incriminating items (if any) were not removed.

There is the possibility - dare I suggest it - that they were considered to be in possible danger.

 

[Trooper]

There is the possibility - dare I suggest it - that they were considered to be in possible danger.

From poor Mick?

 

[Poirot's niece]

I suppose every murderers parents get interviewed by the police, generally speaking. Did his parents need to get interviewed. ?.. need being the operative, I suppose so, because there was some story that he was sort of inbetween homes, going back and forth to his girlfriends and his parents home, and he actually worked for his father on a daily basis, so.. it would be advantageous to interview them , one could argue.

*Alleged murderers* Sub judice.

 

[drsleuth]

I'm not sure why PS's family are being treated as they have done something wrong?? For protecting their family?

IMO they have done the smart thing. They have not spoken to the media.

For all we know this was the straw that broke the Camel's back , so to speak?

It would have been very difficult to stay in Ballarat & continue their life as before the arrest of PS.

They are also victims with all that we know, IMO

JMO

 

[jjleroche]

View attachment 507659
Well, if it is the murder weapon, that would certainly have given LA another reason to be hugging and high fiving.

While unwieldy, this is my latest guess about “what’s in the bag”. Not necessarily these specific items but I do like the concept of a carabiner knife attached to another item, given the similarity of the shine of the blade on this multifunction, survival carabiner.

I suppose they could have been attached to each other purely for weight for throwing / sinking…

I agree - the carabiner attachment has confused things, but it makes sense, seeing your diagram.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

I'm not sure why PS's family are being treated as they have done something wrong?? For protecting their family?

IMO they have done the smart thing. They have not spoken to the media.

For all we know this was the straw that broke the Camel's back , so to speak?

It would have been very difficult to stay in Ballarat & continue their life as before the arrest of PS.

They are also victims with all that we know, IMO

JMO

No one is saying they have done anything wrong, the only person who has caused this is the accused murderer.
And possibly putting his poor family in danger, if he has told them crucial information, names of anyone else etc, leading up to court proceedings. It's a safety net