Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn will allow himself to be questioned under oath after making the decision to testify at his murder trial.
Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty in the Supreme Court of Victoria to the murders of Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, in the Wonnanangatta Valley in Victoria’s alpine region on 20 March 2020.
On Wednesday, the last of the prosecution’s witnesses, Missing Persons Unit Detective Brett Florence, was cross-examined by Lynn’s attorney, Dermot Dann, KC.
But on Thursday, Lynn will take the witness stand to give her side of the story, in person and in her own words.
Missing Persons Unit Detective Brett Florence agreed that Lynn provided them with information they had no idea existed.
Lynn told police exactly where Carol Clay was shot and killed and where she believed Russell Hill fell on his own knife.
Sergeant Florence and his partner Daniel Passingham had questioned Lynn about the alleged murders at Sale police station on November 23, 2021.
Jurors were presented with just over three hours of that interview this week, in which they watched Lynn recall how she claimed the campers died and the efforts she went to to conceal their bodies.
Dann examined each and every one of those claims to Sergeant Florence on Wednesday, asking each time whether the evidence obtained by police supported what Lynn had told them.
Again and again, Sergeant Florence responded in the affirmative.
“Mr. Lynn answered all the questions that were asked, is that correct?” Mr. Dann asked.
‘Yes,’ was the answer.
‘You marked all the maps they provided you, right? Did she mark all the photographs provided to her? Mr. Dann asked.
“Yes,” Sergeant Florence responded.
—He helped you locate the place where the bodies had been taken and burned, do you agree? came the question.
“Yes,” the detective said.
The process of confirming the facts continued in court for the next hour.
Greg Lynn made a sketch showing police where he was camped (above) and Russell Hill (below). The river surrounding both camps is shown.
The jury heard that while Greg Lynn covered up and destroyed evidence, he freely volunteered information when police finally found him.
The jury heard that not only did Lynn’s account of what she told detectives match what they themselves would later determine to be true, but she also provided them with information they had no idea existed at the time.
Until Lynn’s interview, detectives had no idea that Ms. Clay’s blood spatter could be located inside the rear canopy of Mr. Hill’s Landcruiser.
“Not even you knew the location of any blood spatter or human tissue within the canopy attached to your vehicle,” Mr Dann said.
“No, I didn’t,” said Sergeant Florence.
Video recording of Lynn’s police interview showed the pilot dressed in a gray windbreaker, goggles and a surgical mask as he recalled the fateful night police said he murdered the couple.
Footage showed her lower half wrapped in a blanket due to the extreme cold inside the police interrogation room.
The jury heard testimony from several witnesses who were in the bush when Lynn and the campers were there.
Many recounted nearly identical versions of events Lynn offered to police during the recording of her interview.
Lynn’s attorney, Dermot Dann, KC, had Missing Persons Unit Detective Brett Florence admit that what Lynn told him had turned out to be true and what evidence he could rely on.
The jury heard that Victoria Police’s own ballistics expert agreed that Lynn’s story of how Ms Clay was shot dead seemed accurate.
“The shot going through the mirror, Mrs. Clay in a position where her head is about 110cm away… you know (your expert) said that all of that in terms of Mr. Lynn’s version, or that version, that collection of circumstances – was absolutely right,” Mr Dann said.
Although Sergeant Florence claimed to have no idea of his own expert’s findings, he reluctantly accepted that he was probably right.
‘I didn’t know he had given that evidence. I thought the evidence was inconclusive. I didn’t know he had used the words “successful,” Sergeant Florence said.
“If he says it’s accurate, well, yes, he’s an expert and we’ll take him at his word.”
Lynn told detectives He had been involved in a deadly fight with Mr Hill as they struggled for control of a shotgun when it went off, killing Mrs Clay.
The jury heard Lynn approach Mr Hill when a fight over the firearm took place.
“I confronted him. ‘Give it back to me. What are you doing?’ And he said he was going to take it to the police,” Lynn said.
“Then when I moved toward him, he had the magazine in the shotgun at the time, and he pulled the action back and let a couple of bullets go into the air.”
This quiet place became the scene of what police say was a bloody murder.
Lynn told detectives that Russell Hill fired from his side mirror (in a circle) the same shot that killed Carol Clay.
Lynn claimed she ran for her life before sneaking up on Mr Hill from the shadows.
“I stayed under the shade and got closer,” Lynn said.
“To try to disarm him, I jumped up, grabbed the barrel of the shotgun with my right arm, spun around to face him… He had his left hand on the stock, his right hand on the barrel, and he struggled.
‘The shotgun was pointed this way and it went off. My hand wasn’t on the trigger, it was on the barrel… he didn’t let go, it went off. She went through the left rearview mirror and killed Mrs. Clay.
Lynn claimed he hid the shotgun when Mr Hill dropped it only to be confronted again moments later armed with a kitchen knife.
‘He advances towards me with a knife in his right hand and a clenched fist in his left. First he hits with his left hand, I blocked it,” Lynn said.
‘With his right hand, he swings the knife, I (grabbed) his wrist and with my left arm I passed over his right and he pushed me to the ground and the knife stabbed into his chest.
‘He turned around and when I got off him he crawled a little and then stopped moving. And I thought, “What am I going to do?”
Lynn claimed she looked for signs of life in both campers, but quickly realized they were both dead.
‘And from here I panicked. You know, that’s my shotgun, a dead person, he’s dead now too. And I’m going to be found guilty of this,” Lynn said.
The jury heard Lynn worked quickly to cover up the bloody crime.
The trial is expected to continue into next week before the jury is finally asked to retire and consider its verdict.
