Adrian Basham was found guilty of murdering his ex-wife Samantha Fraser
Adrian Basham has become a ‘marked man’ in prison and does not deserve a life sentence for murdering his ex-wife as he is not a threat to the wider community, his new lawyer has told a court.
The 46-year-old, who was convicted by a jury of the July 2018 murder of his ex-partner Samantha Fraser, has faced the High Court in Melbourne for another pre-sentence hearing after his previous legal team fired him. .
Basham strangled Fraser to death with rope at her home in Cowes, Phillip Island, after prosecutors said he was expecting her and rigged the scene to look like a suicide.
He had been accused of raping his estranged wife months earlier and Mrs Fraser was due to testify against him a week after she was murdered.
Prosecutors claimed Basham’s main motive was to prevent Ms Fraser from speaking out against him about the alleged violations at a detention hearing.
The rape charges were dropped after Basham was found guilty of murder.
Basham’s new lawyer, Dermott Dann KC, said Friday that his client continued to maintain his innocence, which he said had “limited” him in defending Basham.
Adrian Basham is accused of killing Samantha Fraser (pictured) inside her Phillip Island home in 2018
Samantha Fraser fought hard for her life, but she couldn’t defeat the huge beast that killed her.
He said the murder was not an “execution” of Ms. Fraser for her upcoming court appearance and argued that the offense did not fall into the worst category.
Basham did not deserve to be sentenced to life in prison because he was not a threat to the community at large, he said.
“As determined by the jury, Ms. Fraser was the victim of a terrible crime, however the point is that she does not pose an ongoing danger to the community at large, she does not have that track record on him,” Mr. Dann said To the court.
“We are not in the worst category, we are not at the extreme.”
He cited Basham’s employment history and submitted references to the court as evidence that he was a “caring father” and “a hard worker.”
Dann argued that the murder was not premeditated and that his motive was more complicated than prosecutors had presented.
Basham was jealous, angry at not seeing his children and upset at the breakup, he said.
“Between all these competing motives and inferences, you cannot be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that this is a case of a man executing his ex-wife simply to avoid a situation where she gave and would give testimony in a trial,” he said.
Dann told the court that Basham was having a “difficult” time in prison and had to be transferred to protection.
“He is a despised prisoner,” he said.
There have been threats against him and attacks. There is a perception that he is a marked man.
Judge Lesley Taylor challenged her submission, saying Ms Fraser lived in “abject terror” of Basham before she was murdered.
Samantha Fraser was attacked by her husband, murdered, and hanged inside her parents’ home on Phillip Island.
Samantha Fraser was a loving mother who would never have taken her own life, a court heard
‘She was going to testify against him next week, that has to be relevant, right?’ she said.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC said that while there were many motives, Basham’s main motive was to prevent Ms Fraser from testifying.
“The timeline here is vitally important, as it’s seven days away,” he said.
Judge Taylor said she would sentence Basham in the new year.
The latest hearing comes after the court previously heard that Ms Fraser’s young children had been brutally bullied by cruel classmates over their loss.
In September, Jemima, the 13-year-old daughter of Basham and Mrs Fraser, bravely appeared before her murderous father in court to tell him how he wouldn’t break her.
“I’m here to tell you that I’m a fighter,” she told Basham.
Jemima, then 9 years old, waited for her mother at the school flagpole with her little sister April, 7, and brother Rex, 5, on the day their mother was murdered.
The children now live with their elderly grandparents, who also provided powerful victim impact statements to their daughter’s killer.
Before Father’s Day, the court heard that Rex’s classmates bullied him with disgusting comments.
Adrian Basham beat and murdered his wife before trying to make it look like suicide
“Rex came home from school very upset because a boy asked him what he would write on his Father’s Day card and suggested he could say ‘Thank you daddy for murdering mommy,’” Samantha’s mother, Janine Fraser, told the court. .
The court heard that, at one point, a boy told Jemima, “I bet her mother didn’t even die and she’s just doing it for attention,” before continuing.
Despite the family’s grief, Jemima told her ‘monster’ father that his actions would not break her.
Jemima told her father that she had made the trip to court to make sure her mother received justice.
Repeating the words ‘I have fought’ three times before finishing her sentence, the teen fought back tears to condemn her father’s murderous actions.
Basham runs away after murdering the mother of his children and making it look like she had committed suicide.
The Cowes house where Samantha Fraser was allegedly murdered in 2018
“I have struggled with anxiety and even suicidal thoughts, but today I am here to show people that I am a fighter and that we will get justice for my mother,” she told Basham.
Jemima outlined the three reasons that motivated her to stand up to her ruthless father.
‘To get justice for the life mom deserved. For my friends and family… For me. I’ve struggled… in the years since Mom was taken away. And even with support it is so unimaginably difficult,” she said.
Jemima told Basham that she had spent four long months piecing together the words she wanted him to know.
He murdered my mother. He took Sammy’s life and in doing so destroyed many others. Just to think that even with the unlimited amount of love my mother received from everyone in her life, she could be taken away in minutes is nauseating,” Jemima said.
‘And being here in court because it’s true is something else. They took my whole life. I lost my mom, a dad, my social life and the chance for a normal future.
The court heard that Jemima’s younger siblings had endured similar torment, with little Rex so scared of his father that he made a fort out of his bed during his father’s trial.
“To keep the monsters away,” her grandmother told the court on her behalf.
April, now 9, also told the court in September that her father had “taken the best part of her heart”.
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