Alleged Sam Murphy killer’s new court move
The man accused of killing missing Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy has pleaded not guilty and revealed plans to take the case to trial, a court has been told.
Patrick Orren Stephenson, 23, sported a bushy beard as he was beamed into the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning from the Melbourne Assessment Prison.
He wore a white shirt and kept his arms crossed in front of him and spoke to confirm he could see and hear the court.
Ms Murphy’s husband, Mick Murphy, watched the hearing from the body of the courtroom.
Mr Stephenson, the son of former AFL player Orren Stephenson, was charged with murder in March, a little more than a month after the mother of three vanished after leaving home for an morning run on February 4.
Crown prosecutor Raymond Gibson KC told the court that Mr Stephenson had elected to fast-track his case to the Supreme Court for trial.
This skips a committal hearing in the Magistrates Court jurisdiction in which a magistrate hears the evidence and decides if they’re satisfied it could support a conviction. It will allow Mr Stephenson to face trial at an earlier date.
“Not guilty, Your Honour,” the accused man said when asked how he would like to plea.
His lawyer, Michael Allen, said his client was aware of what would come next.
Several members of Mr Stephenson’s family observed the hearing online.
Police allege the Ballarat-born private schoolboy murdered Ms Murphy on February 4 in the Mount Clear area – 6km from her Eureka St home.
Despite both extensive and “targeted” searches of bushland around Ballarat in the intervening months, Ms Murphy has not been located.
At Mr Stephenson’s last court appearance in August, defence lawyer Moya O’Brien requested a further three-month period to examine the brief of evidence against her client, saying it “has been described as unprecedented in size”.
“We appreciate that’s a significant amount of time, but the brief is extensive,” Daniel White for the prosecution said in support of the adjournment.
In March, following Mr Stephenson’s arrest, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton remained tight-lipped about how the accused man was identified but said the arrest came after a “painstaking and methodical investigation”.
“I’m not going to identify what has specifically led us to this man other than to say it has come about from painstaking detective work with great assistance from the public,” he said.
The 51-year-old’s disappearance and alleged murder shocked the community and quickly became one of the most high-profile missing persons investigations in the state.
On the morning of her disappearance, Ms Murphy is believed to have reached the Mount Clear area, adjacent to the Woowookarung Regional Park, about an hour after leaving about 7am.
Ms Murphy was reported missing later the same morning.
Despite the efforts of police and volunteers, no traces of the missing mum were found until police revealed “items of interest”, including a mobile phone, were pulled from a dam in late May.
Details of the alleged murder have not been aired in court and Mr Allen argued against court documents being released to the media, saying it was now for the Supreme Court to decide.
Mr Stephenson was committed to stand trial by magistrate Mark Stratmann and will appear in the Supreme Court later this month.
“Because the matter is now in the purview of the Supreme Court of Victoria, that court will be dealing with all matters in relation to this proceeding,” Mr Stratmann said.