Update in alleged throuple murder plot

A new detail has emerged in the case of three lovers charged with murder plots allegedly involving axes, pillows and a hit man.

Lawyers for Lisa Lines, Zacharia Bruckner and Letiticia Fortune have indicated their clients will plead not guilty to the allegation they attempted to murder Ms Lines’ former partner Jonathon Hawtin on separate occasions between 2017 and 2022 in South Australia.

Police allege Mr Bruckner attacked Mr Hawtin at his Adelaide Hills home in 2017 with an axe.

Mr Bruckner then shot himself with a gun, police allege, so the axe attack would appear to be in self-defence.

Mr Hawtin was left a tetraplegic from the alleged attack.

And then as Mr Hawtin lay in hospital recovering from Mr Bruckner’s alleged kill attempt, police allege Ms Fortune and Ms Lines plotted to smother Mr Hawtin with a pillow.

At an earlier appearance at Adelaide Magistrates Court in December 2023, prosecutors told the court that Ms Fortune had sent text messages concerning the gruesome scheme.

Prosecutors allege she and Ms Lines planned the act for the early hours of New Year’s Day because there would be less security working at the hospital.

It is alleged Ms Fortune was stopped by hospital security guards and fled the scene.

Prosecutors originally charged Mr Hawtin with attempted murder after the 2017 incident, believing he had tried to kill Mr Bruckner after he started a relationship with Mr Lines.

Mr Hawtin was acquitted of all charges following a trial at the South Australian Supreme Court in 2019.

Mr Bruckner and Ms Fortune were both allegedly Ms Lines’ lovers.

The police also allege from December 2021 to 2022, Ms Lines and Mr Bruckner conspired to have a hit man kill Mr Hawtin and his mother, Rhonda, with undercover police operatives allegedly securing evidence of the alleged plot.

Ms Lines was arrested in November 2023 on the tiny Pacific island nation of Palau and then extradited back to Adelaide to face the courts.

She left Australia and settled in Taiwan after Ms Hawtin was acquitted of the charges against him.

She and Mr Bruckner are facing attempted murder and conspire to murder charges, while Ms Fortune is facing an attempted murder charge.

In a statement released via the South Australian Police in November, Mr Hawtin said he was “profoundly relieved” to see Ms Lines face the courts.

“This has been a cruel and exhausting struggle, my mother and I have been through hell, but we never gave up and we never would have,” he said.

“The events of this past week are the culmination of years of hard work and a determined effort on the part of SAPOL’s major crime branch.”

Mr Hawtin emphasised he was not in a relationship with Ms Lines or Mr Bruckner at the time of the alleged 2017 attack and had no knowledge the pair had struck up a relationship.

The three accused were booked to answer the charges against them on Tuesday, but their defence asked for an adjournment for more time to consider the voluminous disclosures in the case.

James Noblet, for Mr Bruckner, Dominic Agresta, for Ms Lines and Mark Williams, for Ms Fortune, all indicated their clients would plead not guilty, though no formal pleas have been entered.

Magistrate Simon Smart adjourned the answer charge hearing to October 3 to give the defence more time to consume material.

Ms Lines and Mr Bruckner remain in custody, though Ms Fortune has been granted bail and appeared in court supported by a group of people.

She declined to make any comment on leaving the court, with her supporters at times blocking cameramen from filming her.

Ms Lines holds a PhD in social sciences from Flinders University.