Murdered mother Simone Quinlan was shot at least five times in the head and her body dumped in a mine shaft in regional Victoria, a Melbourne court has heard.
There may have been a sixth gunshot wound but the 33-year-old’s body was so badly burned it was difficult for the medical officer performing the autopsy to make a proper assessment.
The mother-of-two’s remains were recovered from a mine shaft near Bendigo several days after she was last seen leaving a service station about 11pm on August 24 last year.
Melton men Brendan Neil, Dylan Jez and Wayne Marmo have been charged with Ms Quinlan’s murder.
The trio is appearing at a Melbourne Magistrates’ Court hearing to determine if they’ll stand trial.
Doctor Jacqueline Lee, who conducted the autopsy, on Monday said the sixth gunshot wound may have been an exit wound.
There was also a blunt force injury great enough to cause fractures to the skull, she said.
The blow to the skull would have been enough to cause fractures to the bone, but because the body had been so badly burned she could not say whether it was inflicted before or after Ms Quinlan’s death.
“My determination was limited,” Dr Lee said.
The hearing continues.
By Genevieve Gannon, The Age
