Carol Clay had a “very caring and very loving relationship” with Russell Hill, her daughter has told the Victorian supreme court.
Gregory Stuart Lynn, 57, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Hill and Clay at a remote camping spot 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.
The prosecutor, Daniel Porceddu, has said police did not know the exact circumstances or motive behind the alleged double murder at Bucks Camp, a remote site in the Wonnangatta Valley.
Emma Davies told the court her mother had been in a relationship with Hill for about 10 years. Hill and Clay had known each other since childhood and he had been her first boyfriend, Davies said.
“She said it was very caring and very loving relationship,” Davies said.
She said she knew the couple often camped together, saying that her mother “wouldn’t describe herself as a camper … but she appreciated it, appreciated the outdoors”.
Davies said she had been concerned when asked by police to authorise a missing persons media release in relation to her mother that it would detail she had been camping with Hill, as she knew Hill was married to someone else.
On Wednesday afternoon the court also heard from Michael Allan, a friend of Hill’s for about 30 years, who spoke with him only hours before Hill was allegedly murdered.
The pair communicated on an almost daily basis for the past 15 years using high frequency radios, which they dialled in on between 6pm and about 6.40pm every night to speak while eating dinner, along with other enthusiasts, Allan said.
Allan said nothing seemed “untoward” when he spoke with Hill on the evening of 20 March, 2020.
“We just generally spoke about how lovely it was being in the Wonnangatta Valley, and … about the day’s activities,” Allan said.
The court earlier heard that Hill told fellow campers that someone close to him had been killed in an accident while deer hunting, Victoria’s supreme court has heard.
On Tuesday, the court heard that Lynn had a conversation with Hill in which the elderly camper told him someone close to him had been killed in a deer hunting accident. Lynn had been deer hunting when he met Hill and Clay.
On Wednesday, the court heard from deer hunters who met Hill while camping at King Billy No 2, a site near Mount Buller, on 12 March 2020.
Hill told them about the accidental shooting death, and also shared that retirement had “fucked him up”, the court heard. He also said that while he loved Victoria’s alpine region he “didn’t give a fuck” about park rangers.
One of the hunters, Christopher Benton, said Hill was a “working-class man”, kind-natured and good to talk to, but appeared to miss being a forestry worker.
Benton agreed in court that he told police in a September 2020 statement that Hill said “now I’m retired and it really fucked me up”. He said that occurred during a discussion about Hill’s former work, in which he also had an empty expression on his face and looked to the ground.
Benton said Hill told him that, when employed in production as a forestry worker, he worked extensively in the Alpine national park, and he appeared to have a strong knowledge of tracks and roads in the area.
He said Hill also spoke about hobbies including videography using a drone and communicating using high-frequency radio.
At one point, Benton said Hill used a chainsaw to cut firewood from a snowgum. Benton and his fellow hunters communicated to Hill that it was illegal to cut that timber, to which he responded: “I don’t give a fuck.”
The court heard that Hill also mentioned he was married and enjoyed the outdoors, saying: “If I go home my wife is only going to nag me anyway … I may as well stay out here.”
Rowan Stewart, who had been camping with Benton, said he also had a conversation with Hill in which they discussed firearm safety, and storing guns and ammunition at camp, in which Hill spoke about someone close to him being accidentally killed in a deer-hunting accident.
Scott McDonald also told the court about meeting Hill in February 2020, the month before he was killed.
McDonald was camping at Pikes Flat, near Mount Buller, as he competed in the Oscars Hut to Hut race, and had set up his site close to that of Hill and Clay, wrongly thinking they were fellow competitors.
McDonald told the court that when Hill returned to camp he approached him and asked why his camp was so close.
He “calmed down” when McDonald explained he had mistakenly thought the site belonged to a fellow competitor, the court heard.
“His demeanour did change,” McDonald said.
“In no way was he aggressive towards us or yelling or screaming or anything, he was just quite direct.”
The hearing continues.
