Former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn has apologised to the households of secret lover campers Russell Hill and Carol Clay after coming into the witness field to defend his ‘despicable’ behaviour.
Lynn, 57, has pleaded not responsible within the Supreme Court docket of Victoria to the murders of Mr Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, within the Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria’s Alpine area, on March 20, 2020.
On Thursday, Lynn entered the witness field to inform the jury in his personal phrases how the campers died because of a tragic accident.
Whereas Lynn has all the time denied murdering the couple, the jury heard he freely admitted to cleansing up the alleged crime scene and destroying the proof.
‘It was despicable,’ Lynn conceded.
‘All I can say to the households is that I’m very sorry for your entire struggling that I’ve brought on … sure I must be punished for it. For what I did.’
The jury heard Lynn had supplied to plead responsible to the destruction of proof earlier than happening trial, but it surely had been rejected by the prosecution.
Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn enters the Supreme Court docket of Victoria on Wednesday
A diagram compiled by Greg Lynn exhibiting police the open doorways of his Nissan Patrol in relation to Russell Hill’s camp
‘I’m harmless of homicide,’ he mentioned. ‘I’m harmless (of manslaughter too). I have never killed anybody.’
Dressed neatly in a swimsuit and dark-rimmed spectacles, the previous pilot spoke in a cool and calm method as he took the jury by the bloody particulars of what police allege was chilly blooded homicide.
The jury heard Lynn claimed the couple died after Mr Hill stole his shotgun and the pair engaged in a lethal battle for management.
‘I do not know if he supposed to shoot me or not, in all probability not,’ Lynn advised the jury. ‘I believe he was simply attempting to maintain the shotgun for himself and scare me off.’
The jury heard Lynn had been sitting close to his campfire by the river when he noticed Mr Hill take his shotgun and cargo the journal.
The doorways of Lynn’s Nissan Patrol had been left large open to ‘liberate all of the music’ from his automotive stereo, which within the pilot’s personal phrases was accomplished in a ‘infantile effort’ to harass Mr Hill after a earlier run-in with him.
The 12 Gauge ‘Barathrum Arms’ Mannequin S/P 12 Semi-Automated Shotgun used to kill Carol Clay
The lethal battle allegedly occurred on the entrance of Russell Hill’s Landcruiser (pictured)
Lynn created a sketch of the scene to assist jurors work out how he claimed Mr Hill gained entry to his Nissan Patrol to steal his shotgun.
The picture confirmed an outline of Lynn’s 4WD with all of its doorways open, permitting Mr Hill to take Lynn’s shotgun from the rear and ammunition clip from the entrance.
Lynn claimed Mr Hill by chance shot Ms Clay by the pinnacle as he tried to wrestle the shotgun away from him.
Pressed upon the bullbar of Mr Hill’s Landcruiser, Lynn claimed Mr Hill pulled the set off, blasting off the facet mirror and hitting Ms Clay immediately within the head.
Mr Hill died moments later after falling on his personal knife throughout one other battle, Lynn claimed.
Standing earlier than the jury, and about 100 different members of the general public who crammed into the courtroom, Lynn painted himself as a caring a respectful airline captain who would go to the hassle to assist cleansing crews tidy his plane after touchdown.
Requested a couple of pair of Jetstar-branded gloves he owned, Lynn claimed he would typically maintain them after serving to out.
‘After responsibility at work when flying the cabin crew have to scrub the aircraft. It isn’t an intensive clear, they only undergo and pick-up papers, tidy up the seatbelts and rearrange all the paperwork at the back of the seat pockets,’ he mentioned.
‘Many of the pilots simply take off and depart the cabin crew to try this, however I all the time seize some gloves, undergo and assist them clear up.’
Carol Clay was shot by the pinnacle whereas Russell Hill was impaled by his personal knife, Greg Lynn claimed
The facet mirror was destroyed with the identical shot that killed Carol Clay, Greg Lynn advised the jury
The jury heard Lynn had positioned a laser sight on the shotgun which killed Carol Clay to make sure he might concentrate on the guts and lungs of the deer he loved stalking.
Lynn prompt had he needed to kill Ms Clay, he wouldn’t have blasted off the facet mirror of Mr Hill’s Landcruiser within the course of.
‘Effectively the entire level of getting a laser sighting on the shotgun … is so to put the dot of the laser on the goal and you might be sure that the spherical will hit that concentrate on,’ Lynn mentioned.
‘So the slug went by the mirror, if I had accomplished what the police have mentioned I’ve accomplished … if somebody had shot Carol Clay with the laser sight on, the laser would have illuminated on the mirror not on Carol Clay.’
Lynn described in grotesque element the bloody aftermath of the alleged crime scene, which he has admitted to going to nice lengths to destroy and clear.
‘The scene was horrendous,’ Lynn mentioned.
‘There was blood splatter on the hitching rails and the tray base of the Toyota Landcruiser. There was some on the within of the cover.
‘I wiped all of that off … the photo voltaic panels … they’d blood and different materials on them and over the camp furnishings.
‘A few of these items had been coated in lots of tissue and blood. There was a really giant pool of blood on the bottom in between the Landcruiser and the tent the place Carol Clay was.’
Lynn is within the means of being cross-examined by the prosecution Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu, who closed the prosecution case on Wednesday, earlier than Lynn started giving his model of occasions.
The trial continues.
