Australia Samantha Murphy, 51, last seen leaving her property to go for a run in the Canadian State Forest, Ballarat, 4 Feb 2024 *Arrest* #13

[drsleuth]

Mental impairment?

• the person did not know the nature and quality of the conduct, or

• the person was not capable of reasoning that the conduct was, or could reasonably be perceived as, wrong.

http://172.26.0.175/publication/review-of-the-crimes-mental-impairment-and-unfitness-to-be-tried-act-1997-consultation-paper/5-defence-of-mental-impairment/

I'm not buying any mental impairment.

He clearly had the capacity to plead guilty to the drug & drink driving charges, very recently.

He was able to continue to work as an apprentice electrician ( had a months to go on his apprenticeship )

At the time, Stephenson had been just months away from completing his apprenticeship.

'Following the accident he was welcomed back to his employment and at the time of his remand into custody he was working back as an electrician,' Ms O'Brien said.

Major update on Sam Murphy's alleged killer as he appears in court

The man accused of murdering Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy has made a sensational appearance in court.

www.dailymail.co.uk

TBI, very unlikely. There would need to be medical records to verify if that's his defense.

 

[Trooper]

I'm not buying any mental impairment.

He clearly had the capacity to plead guilty to the drug & drink driving charges, very recently.

He was able to continue to work as an apprentice electrician ( had a months to go on his apprenticeship )

At the time, Stephenson had been just months away from completing his apprenticeship.

'Following the accident he was welcomed back to his employment and at the time of his remand into custody he was working back as an electrician,' Ms O'Brien said.

TBI, very unlikely. There would need to be medical records to verify if that's his defense.

NO sale and NO returns, here, DR S.. There is an element of cunning in young Mr Stephenson that has carried him thru quite a bit of anti social deliberate behaviour of a particularly vexing sort, that devil may care attitude to public driving of a motor vehicle which relies on total coperation from one driver to another every second of the day, there is no room for the drunk lair, they should build their own roads, and crash around each other on them.

He was , apparently, unable, or unwilling to contemplate changing his outlook and behaviour. Despite a warning, which usually is enough for people, one warning, but no. not for our boy.. ..

A while ago, we floated the thought that he might be on a restricted licence on that day, that is probable , .. interesting now to see what vehicle, , whos vehicle he drove. or..

 

[olaselo]

I wonder what motorbike he crashed ...

 

[Trooper]

I wonder what motorbike he crashed ...

a Kawasaki!

 

[SouthAussie]

I wonder what motorbike he crashed ...

Do you mean what type or whose? I think he might have had a motorcycle as there were earlier reports of him riding around in military-fatigue/camo type clothes on a motorcycle. IIRC it was a man who lived near the house-sitting property who stated that.

He definitely was not wearing "bikie" gear on the motorcycle, when the man used to see him.

imo

 

[Marg944]

Played around with his pic to place a beard onto his image….

 

[Rocket333]

Do you mean what type or whose? I think he might have had a motorcycle as there were earlier reports of him riding around in military-fatigue/camo type clothes on a motorcycle. IIRC it was a man who lived near the house-sitting property who stated that.

He definitely was not wearing "bikie" gear on the motorcycle, when the man used to see him.

imo

Yep, it was the parent’s neighbour (Ken Rowe?) who mentioned watching Stephenson ride around on his bike wearing army cadet style camo gear.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

Agreed. Laying the groundwork to exploit the TBI angle, I reckon. And frankly I think half the young men my brother played AFL with have had multiple concussions and are at risk of brain changes for that reason, wonder if that will be a factor.

Yep… the Not Guilty plea makes more sense now..

 

[Kemug]

Well , he hasn't really achieved much in his life has he?? Not even a qualified electrician yet.

 

[Trooper]

Well , he hasn't really achieved much in his life has he?? Not even a qualified electrician yet.

He couldn't seem to get thru the simple stuff.... driving, going out in public, etc.. normal stuff. ..

Just in counterpoint to the beard stuff, this bloke was reared in a country rural city, protected, in AUstralia, in the far side of the world, safe as safe can be, ushered thru his formative years all thru his life in formal expensive private schooling, a spectacular speedy entry into the sports world via his fathers reputation, his mothers teaching career, ... white, male, living at home with mum and dad, entered into a valuable apprenticeship with his father, in a high paying trade, there was not one advantage this Stephenson did not have. NOT ONE. and yet. ... this was what he chose. . persistent drunkeness, bad driving, drugs .,illegal driving.... and finally...

 

[Dotta]

Well , he hasn't really achieved much in his life has he?? Not even a qualified electrician yet.

He "achieved"... notoriety.

 

[Rocket333]

He couldn't seem to get thru the simple stuff.... driving, going out in public, etc.. normal stuff. ..

Just in counterpoint to the beard stuff, this bloke was reared in a country rural city, protected, in AUstralia, in the far side of the world, safe as safe can be, ushered thru his formative years all thru his life in formal expensive private schooling, a spectacular speedy entry into the sports world via his fathers reputation, his mothers teaching career, ... white, male, living at home with mum and dad, entered into a valuable apprenticeship with his father, in a high paying trade, there was not one advantage this Stephenson did not have. NOT ONE. and yet. ... this was what he chose. . persistent drunkeness, bad driving, drugs .,illegal driving.... and finally...

And yet there will be a back story. A tale of childhood woe and hardship that explains, and even tries to justify his understandable spiral into substance dependency, escapism and reckless abandon. Even perhaps the rebellious rage against perceived authority figures. Here we have a victim of the pressures that come with advantage, privilege and the father’s mediocre 15 minutes of fame.

 

[Kemug]

Perhaps he'll write a book called "Spare".

 

[bearbear]

Not to mention that bushy beards are kind of "in" among some of the younger set at the moment. I know a couple of them. Really nice guys, good all the way round, sporting fairly recent bushy beards.

hipster?

 

[Deleted member 83851]

Maybe PS’s mental health and mood disorders, as well as his anti-social behaviours predate the head-bashing sports his parents enlisted him into.

The problem with that defence is that we have become aware of how head injuries can affect us later and so it is with a certain acceptance of the consequences that we participate in equestrian activities, ice hockey, bungy jumping etc. That’s why we have xrays and neurologists and CT scans. I would like to see these presented at PS trial, going back in time as far as possible.

Mental health can ebb and flow; something like a third of the world’s population experiences depression at some point. As Trooper pointed out, while driving/shopping/playing we are surrounded by other people and we all need to maintain a level of civic responsibility in order for society to work. So when one highly-advantaged young man loads himself up with drugs/alcohol and drives a fast machine into a tree, having already been warned to stop that anti-social behaviour, we have to ask ourselves, how badly do we need this person to be walking among us?

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Well , he hasn't really achieved much in his life has he?? Not even a qualified electrician yet.

A bit harsh maybe. At the time he was only 22. He had almost finished an apprenticeship, gained his car (and motorbike?) licence(s) and bought a car. Was living, at least for a very short while, with his girlfriend and maintaining a grown up life. Getting himself to work on time, feeding himself etc. I'm not sticking up for him at all, just pointing out his age. Not sure what you expect the average 22 year old Aussie guy to have achieved.

 

[marv hucker]

Pity he hadn't killed himself that night then Samantha would still be alive today.
The parents, sisters and girlfriend must have very limited intelligence to still support him. No wonder they're in hiding.

I don’t think that’s necessarily true, and certainly not fair. Supporting him as a person doesn’t mean they support what he did/alleged to have done.

 

[Bats]

DBM

 

[Trooper]

Maybe PS’s mental health and mood disorders, as well as his anti-social behaviours predate the head-bashing sports his parents enlisted him into.

The problem with that defence is that we have become aware of how head injuries can affect us later and so it is with a certain acceptance of the consequences that we participate in equestrian activities, ice hockey, bungy jumping etc. That’s why we have xrays and neurologists and CT scans. I would like to see these presented at PS trial, going back in time as far as possible.

Mental health can ebb and flow; something like a third of the world’s population experiences depression at some point. As Trooper pointed out, while driving/shopping/playing we are surrounded by other people and we all need to maintain a level of civic responsibility in order for society to work. So when one highly-advantaged young man loads himself up with drugs/alcohol and drives a fast machine into a tree, having already been warned to stop that anti-social behaviour, we have to ask ourselves, how badly do we need this person to be walking among us?

The judge did not hesitate to hurl Jaymes Todd into prison for 35 years, no parole.... regardless of his mental capacities, one of the strong reasons for this apparently heavy , ( I don't think heavy enough ) sentence was the psych report, which, once you start this stuff, you don't know where it goes, Stephenson may think its a smart move to have his barrister bring up his frail skull stuff, but so did Todd, and then the State psych, who is allowed an opinion, and will be in counterpoint to anything Ms O'Brien puts up for her client, found that Todd was a sexual sadist, so another 10 years was bunged on the sentence...

It was firmly and categorically decided that there are some behaviours which negate entry into community living as a free person, in this case, and in a lot of cases, too.. Stephenson is up against precedence in this matter......

Eurydice Dixon's 'sadistic' killer jailed for life, has 'poor' hopes of becoming safe

Jaymes Todd is ordered to serve a minimum of 35 years in prison for raping and murdering the 22-year-old comedian in a Melbourne park last year, with the sentencing judge saying the 20-year-old has "very limited" prospects of rehabilitation.

www.abc.net.au

worth reading .......a quick precis


(Jaymes tried to grow a beard, too, a flimsy thing, don't know what happened to it after the trial, the Governor of Port Philip Correctional centre is not a beard loving man and tends to have those things removed, voluntarily or not)...

(extra bit .. Codey Hermann got 36 years , he tried on the same yarn... He tried the 'don't remember stuff' thing... '''Earlier this month, Herrmann's lawyers told the court he had no explanation for the crime and could not remember the hours before the attack.''''

'Utter contempt for her dignity': 36 years' jail for Aiia Maasarwe's murderer

A judge describes the attack on 21-year-old Aiia Maasarwe as "unsophisticated and opportunistic" in sentencing her killer to 36 years' prison, with a non-parole period of 30, as the victim's father and sister watch on in court.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Trooper]

And yet there will be a back story. A tale of childhood woe and hardship that explains, and even tries to justify his understandable spiral into substance dependency, escapism and reckless abandon. Even perhaps the rebellious rage against perceived authority figures. Here we have a victim of the pressures that come with advantage, privilege and the father’s mediocre 15 minutes of fame.

well.. in Remand, right now, I reckon, among all the blokes milling around at morning smoko, when they get the chance to eye each other off yet again, while waiting for some news from their lawyers, and barristers, and mumma's, Stephenson would hands down be the one with the most expensive education on Remand, at this moment, probably the only one who 's folks are togther , probably who's both parents are alive, probably with the money to travel down to see him, he would be a standout. He could tell his sad story, how his sisters head butted him and all, but it would not go down well in there, that's fo sho.