Emily Woods, AAP
Accused double murderer Greg Lynn’s story is “a series of unfortunate events”, prosecutors have told a jury.
“Like a book series of that name, it is also a complete fiction,” prosecutor Daniel Porceddu said on Tuesday morning.
“You can and should reject it beyond reasonable doubt.”
The prosecution has begun closing its case before a Supreme Court jury in Melbourne, five weeks after Lynn’s trial began.
The 57-year-old Caroline Springs airline pilot has been charged with two counts of murder over the deaths of Russell Hill and Carol Clay while camping in Victoria’s alpine region in March 2020.
He has pleaded not guilty and gave evidence on Thursday when he was called as the defence’s only witness.
Lynn claims the two deaths were accidental, with Mr Hill and Lynn struggling over a gun the former took from Lynn’s vehicle.
He tried to get the gun off Mr Hill when a shot hit a car side mirror and then Mrs Clay in the head, Lynn said.
He said Mr Hill then came at him with a knife and was stabbed in the chest during a second struggle over a weapon.
But Mr Porceddu said Lynn’s story, which he told police after his arrest in November 2021, was a “fanciful” work of fiction.
“He concocts a version of events that puts Mr Hill as the aggressor and him as the victim in a campsite spat,” he said.
“Over the space of 24 hours, Mr Hill seemingly goes from cordial to homicidal rage.
“The accused’s account makes no sense, it didn’t happen.”
The prosecutor pointed out what he claimed were several inconsistencies with Lynn’s allegedly “implausible” story.
He questioned Lynn’s explanation that Mr Hill had taken a gun from Lynn’s car to turn in to police with drone footage of the pilot shooting close to the Bucks Camp, in the Wonnangatta Valley.
“He’s got the wrong gun,” Mr Porceddu said, pointing out that Lynn would have used a rifle to go hunting, but Mr Hill took a shotgun.
“The footage of the gun won’t match and the guns look completely different.”
He queried why Mr Hill loaded the shotgun with ammunition, if his plan was to take it back to his campsite and hand it to police.
Lynn claimed he tried to get the gun off Mr Hill, who told him to “f*** off” and shot off a few warning shots.
Lynn said he saw Mr Hill pointing the shotgun towards him, over the top of Mr Hill’s LandCruiser bonnet.
He claims to have tried to get the gun back off Mr Hill, which led to a struggle and accidental discharge that Lynn said caused Mrs Clay’s death.
Mr Porceddu said Lynn’s explanation, which included him demonstrating to police exactly how he was holding the gun when he tried to get it off Mr Hill, was “carefully choreographed”.
“You might think it’s because he’s reciting a script, a script he’s had one year and eight months to rehearse over and over again,” he said.
“A script where position of the hands is very important, his hands can’t be over or near the trigger when they’re fighting over the gun.”
He suggested Lynn had forgotten there was a rope stretching from the bull bar of Mr Hill’s LandCruiser to the toilet tent, in coming up with his story.
“He and Mr Hill would have become hopelessly entangled in the rope,” Mr Porceddu said.
“The so-called struggle for the gun is the whole linchpin in the accused’s story – once that falls, like a house of cards everything else tumbles with it, you don’t believe a word of it.”
He claimed Lynn’s story was carefully constructed to point the blame at Mr Hill, after he watched media reports to see what evidence police had on the missing campers.
The defence will close its case after the prosecution.
