‘Blood stains’ found in camper’s truck: court
Written by admin on May 30, 2024
“Blood stains” found in the canopy of Russell Hill’s car have been linked by DNA to Carol Clay, a jury has been told.
Forensic officer Mark Gellatly returned before Victoria’s Supreme Court on Thursday to continue giving evidence at the double-murder trial of Gregory Stuart Lynn.
Mr Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty to allegations he murdered Mr Hill, 74, and Mrs Clay, 73, in the evening of March 20, 2020.
The elderly couple vanished while on a camping trip in the remote Wonnangatta Valley, with their remains discovered more than 20 months later under a felled tree in bushland, the jury was told.
Mr Gellatly told the jury he was asked to examine inside the canopy of Mr Hill’s Toyota LandCruiser for the “possible presence of blood” in February 2022.
In a compartment on the passenger side, he said he located six small “apparent” blood stains and a “jelly-like” fatty deposit.
He told the jury testing could not confirm the stains were blood, but his conclusion was it “most likely” was blood, noting testing can return a false negative when heat-affected.
Testing of one stain and the fatty deposit but returned DNA samples with “extremely strong support” for the proposition it originated from Mrs Clay.
Mr Gellatly said splatter analysis indicated “some sort of forceful event” had occurred, but there wasn’t enough information to make a finding on the mechanism.
“Excluding a freak gust of wind … my best possible guess is the event occurred forward of this,” he said.
Prosecutors allege Mr Lynn killed the pair, likely after a confrontation with Mr Hill, while the former pilot has asked the jury to accept they both died in tragic accidents.
At the start of the trial, Mr Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann KC told the jury his client had given an account of Mrs Clay being accidentally shot in the head as the two men wrestled over the gun.
He said Mr Lynn told police after his arrest Mr Hill had come at him with a knife soon after, but fell on the blade and died.
The trial continues.
