Weed sprayers working in a remote national park when Russell Hill and Carol Clay were killed nearby have given evidence in Victoria’s supreme court.
Gregory Stuart Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the pair at Bucks Camp in the state’s alpine region on or about 20 March 2020.
His lawyer, Dermot Dann KC, told the court on Tuesday that the deaths were the result of a tragic accident but that Lynn then “made a series of terrible choices” to conceal them.
Two weed sprayers, who were working in the region on the week of the deaths, described interactions with people in vehicles that resembled those used by Lynn, Hill and Clay.
Robbie Williams, one of the sprayers, told the court a white Toyota Land Cruiser had sped past him, and the driver had looked as if he had been having an argument.
The court has previously heard that Hill and Clay were travelling in a similar vehicle.
Williams said the car was a “snazzy” one, but he had found the conduct of the driver unusual, given most others had stopped to speak with him when they passed.
He had thought of the driver as a “grumpy old bugger”, the court heard.
The driver had accelerated “like he was on a mission”, Williams said.
It had appeared as if the driver and the woman in the car had been arguing, although the driver had not appeared to be speaking.
Williams said that later that night he had heard a drone fly over where he and two other weed sprayers were camping, at a site about 3km away from Bucks Camp.
He said he waved at the drone and the operator of it appeared to acknowledge him by tipping its wings from side to side, before flying off over other camps and eventually out of sight.
Williams said he did not know who had been operating the drone.
“Whoever was operating it, the fact that this drone was hovering over various campsites, making the noise that it was, your reaction was, ‘that’s a bit rude’, is that right?” Dann asked him.
“I thought it was a bit rude, yeah,” Williams responded.
The court has previously heard Hill enjoyed flying a drone, and the prosecution say a dispute over this drone may have led to Lynn murdering the couple.
Williams and another weed sprayer, Walter Gibbs, also gave evidence about another person they had seen in the region several days before the deaths who had described themselves as a deer hunter.
The men both said the hunter was driving a car that the court has heard was similar to that owned by Lynn.
Justice Michael Croucher quipped at the end of Williams’s evidence: “I’ve got a Robbie Williams story, I don’t know if I should tell it,” in reference to the British pop star.
The prosecutor, Daniel Porceddu, had earlier clarified when he called Williams as a witness that he was “not the entertainer”, to which Croucher responded: “He might be a better man? Sorry.”
The hearing continues.
