A man accused of helping dispose of the body of tragic Melbourne teenager Isla Bell has been released from jail.
Eyal Yaffe, 57, of Hampton, faces a charge of assisting an offender with murder.
On Monday, Magistrate Rohan Lawrence allowed Yaffe to walk free from the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court despite describing his alleged crimes as ‘callous’ and ‘repugnant’.
His decision was met with tears from within the body of the courtroom where members of Ms Bell’s family were seated at the rear.
They had sat stunned as Mr Lawrence outlined all of the reasons why he believed Yaffe was entitled to walk free.
‘In my view the prosecution have not established Mr Yaffe is an unacceptable risk,’ he said.
On Wednesday, Marat Ganiev, 53, of St Kilda, appeared in the same court charged with Ms Bell’s murder. He did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody.
Outside court, Ms Bell’s family members refused to speak to a waiting media pack, asking to be left in peace.
Family of Isla Bell leave the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Monday after Yaffe was granted bail
On Thursday, the court heard Ms Bell had thought she had found the man of her dreams in the days before she was allegedly brutally murdered by a man more than twice her age.
Daily Mail Australia revealed that police allege the 19-year old texted her friend just hours before her alleged murder expressing her happiness.
In a Snapchat post sent on October 7, Ms Bell, who was last seen leaving her Brunswick home in Melbourne three days earlier on October 4, told her friend that she had ‘found the best sugar daddy’, court documents state.
Her remains were found at a tip at Dandenong six weeks later on November 19 and are yet to be formally identified.
In applying for bail, Yaffe’s barrister Ian Hill KC said the former jeweller could live with his son, Ziv Yaffe, and be electronically monitored.
It was a condition accepted by the magistrate, with Yaffe to be fitted with the monitor at all times while free on bail.
The court heard he is forbidden from attending five addresses linked to the alleged crime or attempt to visit any ports where he could flee the country.
The court heard Yaffe had been armed with a ticket to Bulgaria when he was arrested, having purchased it the day after police hauled him in for questioning.
Two men have been charged after police found suspected human remains in their search for 19-year-old Isla Bell (pictured)
Marat Ganiev, 53, of St Kilda appeared in the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday charged with murdering Isla Bell
Eyal Yaffe (pictured) appeared jovial within the confines of the prison dock on Wednesday. He is accused of helping the man who allegedly murdered Isla Bell conceal his crime
Prosecutors had argued Yaffe was not only a flight risk, but a risk to public safety and prosecution witnesses.
‘In my view, the case against him does not hinge on witnesses but phone records, CCTV and statements to police,’ Mr Lawrence said.
‘There is no rational reason to believe he could interfere.’
In arguing for his release, Yaffe’s barrister – a top Melbourne silk – criticised the police case against his client.
‘The facts are clear, there’s no direct evidence and we say no evidence from which it can be inferred,’ Mr Hill said last week.
The court was told under Victorian law Yaffe had a prima facie entitlement to bail unless the court was swayed that he posed an unacceptable risk.
Court documents have outlined the alleged harrowing final moments of Ms Bell’s life.
Ms Bell told her friend a ‘sugar daddy’ had lavished her with gifts and ‘saved her from sex traffickers’.
Ziv Yaffe leaves court on Monday after his father was granted bail
Isla Bell (pictured) was last seen leaving her Brunswick home, in Melbourne’s inner city, about 6pm on October 4. Her remains were found at a tip six weeks later
She had allegedly moved in with Ganiev just two days earlier – a day after her frantic mother reported Ms Bell missing to police.
Police allege Ganiev murdered Ms Bell just after midnight on October 7.
Homicide Squad detectives allege CCTV outside Ganiev’s St Kilda East apartment complex captured what appeared to be him attacking Ms Bell.
Cameras recorded Ms Bell entering his apartment at 9.27pm on October 5, but she never left alive, police allege.
From a gap in the front kitchen window, police allege Ms Bell’s head could be seen ‘whipping around’ as she was struck by Ganiev.
‘She falls to the ground and Ganiev can then be seen striking her on the ground of the kitchen,’ court documents state.
‘What appears to be Bell’s head can be seen rising up before being pushed back down by Ganiev’s arm.’
The footage allegedly captured Ms Bell alive between 12.43am until 2am when she vanished from sight.
Police allege Ganiev went to work cleaning the apartment over the following days.
Detectives allege Yaffe became involved after receiving a call from Ganiev on November 8 — a day after Ms Bell is said to have been killed.
The following day, he allegedly drove to Ganiev’s St Kilda East apartment and dropped off a new black fridge, returning on October 17 to remove the old one wrapped in plastic.
Police allege Isla Bell’s body was put in a fridge and later left on a tip
Police allege Ms Bell’s remains were inside the fridge.
Over the following days the trailer was allegedly moved to three locations around Melbourne allegedly associated with Mr Yaffe, with one person later telling police it had a ‘foul smell’ and was attracting flies.
Detective Senior Constable Benjamin Curran told the court it was the police case Yaffe knew the fridge contained her body and that she had been killed.
‘At the time it had been 10 days since she had died … It’s not a smell that can be mistaken or forgotten,’ he said.
When Yaffe was arrested, police allegedly found meth and $6,000 in cash on him.
While initially denying his involvement in concealing Ms Bell’s body, police claim Yaffe eventually admitted the crime, but claimed to have known nothing about how the teenager died.
On Wednesday, Ms Bell’s heartbroken mother Justine Spokes issued a gut-wrenching statement in memory of her daughter as Ganiev faced court.
‘I am so, so sorry my darling daughter,’ she said.
‘I could not protect you from your complex illnesses and this cruel world.
‘I was so proud of your choices this year, your strength to endure despite your suffering.
‘All you ever wanted was to create, make and nurture life, to love and be loved.
‘We were so much looking forward to being reunited as a family again; my heart aches and cannot reconcile that’s not going to happen.’
She said her daughter was ‘the gentlest soul, the kindest human and free spirited’.
‘I will connect to you in spirit my care bear and no one can take that connection away from us,’ she added.
A 63-year-old Mulgrave man was also arrested but has been released pending further enquiries.
The Missing Persons Squad formally took over the investigation in late October.
