EXCLUSIVE
The family of slain camper Russell Hill face being excluded from providing victim impact statements at a pre-sentence hearing for former Jetstar pilot Greg Lynn.
While Lynn, 57, was found guilty of murdering Mr Hill’s secret lover Carol Clay, a jury found the killer not guilty of murdering him.
Victim impact statements are traditionally reserved for those directly impacted by a crime.
Last week in the Supreme Court of Victoria, the court heard victim impact statements were likely to take up an entire day of Lynn’s planned two-day pre-sentence hearing in September.
A source close to Lynn’s legal team told Daily Mail Australia Mr Hill’s family faced a battle to be heard at court due to the not guilty verdict over his death.
‘They could still try and argue that he’s the victim of an accidental killing,’ the source said.
The issue is currently being discussed by Lynn’s lawyers with prosecutors, who are understood to be keen to let members of Mr Hill’s family speak out against the killer in open court.
Lynn’s acquittal of the murder of Mr Hill had already devastated his long suffering family, who have sought justice for his death.
Greg Lynn hopes to walk free from jail on appeal
The split verdict now also threatens to end up in the Supreme Court of Appeal where Lynn’s lawyers will fight to have his murder conviction overturned altogether.
On Friday, Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann KC revealed he was in the process of compiling submissions calling on Justice Michael Croucher to abort sentencing his client until that appeal was heard.
Mr Dann told the court he believed sentencing his client would be made difficult due to what he described as the ‘unsafe guilty verdict’ delivered by Lynn’s jury at trial.
The court heard Lynn had been placed in isolation within the Metropolitan Remand Prison for his own safety, but now fears he will be targeted by inmates at whatever prison he ultimately ends up in.
Mr Dann said the problem had been compounded since the guilty verdict, as a number of media reports revealed evidence the jury had not been shown.
‘It’s an extremely rare application to even make,’ Mr Dann said.
Lynn’s barrister Dermot Dann KC (left) is fighting to have his client’s conviction overturned on the grounds the verdict was ‘unsafe’
If granted, the ‘stay’ of sentence could allow Lynn to apply for bail while his appeal goes through the court.
Mr Dann said a successful appeal could result in Lynn being set free altogether, without a re-trial, due to doubts over whether he could obtain a fair trial because of the significant publicity surrounding the case and the murder conviction.
‘The chances of a fair re-trial are non-existent,’ Mr Dann said.
The experienced barrister said any jury pool would have been ‘polluted or poisoned’ by the ‘inadmissible evidence’ that has ‘flooded’ news sites over the weeks since the verdict was delivered.
Mr Hill’s wife Robyn Hill said she felt numb with worry over the thought Lynn could walk free.
‘We all just had this awful feeling a week or so before,’ she told 9News.
‘I’ve only had that once before when I had to report Russell missing.’
Carol Clay and Russell Hill both died after an ugly encounter with Greg Lynn
The shotgun used by Greg Lynn to shoot Carol Clay dead
Russell Hill’s vehicle and the remains of his tent after Greg Lynn set it on fire
Ms Hill said she hoped Lynn would spend at least two decades in jail for his actions.
‘I hope he suffers for the rest of his life, really. I hope he has a lovely time in jail,’ she said.
‘I think he’s got off lightly. I’d like him to be in jail for 25 years and then I look at that as half each for Russell and Carol.’
The verdict had come as a crushing blow to the Hill family.
In a statement released on the day it was delivered, the families of Mr Hill and Ms Clay said they were ‘devastated’ there was not enough evidence to find Lynn guilty of both deaths.
‘The verdict of not guilty in relation to the murder [of] Russell Hill is devastating. There was not enough evidence to be sure of how he died,’ they said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Office of Public Prosecutions for comment.
