EXCLUSIVE
The house where mother-of-three Samantha Fraser was brutally murdered and found hanging in the garage is up for sale.
Adrian James Basham, now 47, was jailed for life last year for the savage murder of his ex-partner inside their Seagrove Way home on Phillip Island, Victoria, on July 23, 2018.
The house has been put up for sale for $920,000 with all funds going to the state government after a legal attempt by Basham to gain access to the property failed.
Basham had applied to the Supreme Court of Victoria to retain ownership of the house, his Contents and a Toyota pickup truck and carpentry tools.
Her father had also filed a separate claim for the motorcycle Basham used as a getaway vehicle after killing his daughter-in-law, but that application also failed.
Basham had told the court he needed to sell the Cowes property to help pay his legal bills.
Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions applied to seize the house, arguing it was a “tainted property” because Basham killed his ex-wife there and then tried to stage the scene to make it look like a suicide.
Samantha Fraser was murdered at her home on Seagrove Way in Phillip Island
Adrian Basham murdered his wife in the garage of his ex-wife’s house.
The property, in which Basham claimed to have a $545,000 interest, is listed for sale for $920,000.
During a hearing in August, Basham represented himself after telling him The court informed him that he had been unable to obtain Victorian legal aid after the trial.
He said he wanted to use the property to fund private lawyers for an appeal against his verdict.
While the property listing boasts “secure entry from a double garage into the home,” it makes no mention of the murder of a woman in that same garage.
During Basham’s trial, the court heard that Ms Fraser had turned the Seagrove Way property into a fortress.
Police alleged Basham had sneaked into the garage as Fraser was returning home after meeting friends.
He was scheduled to pick up his children from school that afternoon, but he never showed up.
Basham escaped on a motorcycle which his father later attempted to restrain.
Basham was caught on security cameras loitering outside the Seagrove Way home before the killing.
The court heard Ms Fraser weighed just 57kg and was considerably smaller than Basham.
Her purse and phone were later found still in her car after she was attacked the moment she entered her parents’ garage.
Samantha had been fighting desperately for her life, with deep bruising on her hands and wrists consistent with being restrained.
She had suffered rotational force and velocity applied to her head when she was attacked, and her head spun.
Prosecutors said Basham tried to clean up the bloody crime scene after hanging it from the garage door.
The court heard that Basham also currently owns another property, estimated to be worth more than $2 million, in Smiths Beach.
While the Director of Public Prosecutions has not sought to seize that address, the court heard it remains restricted to secure compensation claims for Ms Fraser’s three children and their parents.
The Seagrove Way house has been put up for sale
Inside the house where Samantha Fraser was murdered
In delivering her decision, Judge Lesley Taylor lashed out at Basham.
“The objective gravity of Basham’s crime and his moral culpability for it are of the highest order,” he ruled.
‘It was a premeditated murder that occurred in a context of domestic violence and seven days before Ms Fraser was due to give evidence at the preliminary hearing of the rape allegations she made against him.
‘The offence itself involved Ms Fraser being subjected to a brutal beating in which she suffered 41 blunt force injuries before being hanged.
‘Seizing Seagrove Way is proportionate to the nature and severity of the crime, with murder being the worst case scenario.’
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