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AAP
AAP
National
Miklos Bolza and Margaret Scheikowski

Guilty verdict in Samah Baker murder trial

A NSW Supreme Court jury has returned a guilty verdict for the murder of Samah Baker. (PR HANDOUT IMAGE PHOTO) (AAP)

Sydney man James Hachem murdered his on-off girlfriend Samah Baker in January 2019, a jury has found.

The NSW Supreme Court jury delivered its guilty verdict on Tuesday, setting Hachem, 36, up for being sentenced at a later date.

Hachem, from Hurstville Grove, had always denied murdering Ms Baker, then 30 years old, on January 4. Her body has never been found.

Hachem and Ms Baker had known each other for about 15 years and were said by the Crown to have been in an "intermittent intimate relationship".

The prosecutor alleged Hachem was the last person to see her alive and the only rational explanation was that she was dead and he was responsible for her death.

In his closing address, defence barrister Daniel McMahon argued that the jury could not rule out suicide.

Relatives reported the TAFE worker missing on January 5 after a friend said she dropped her off at her Parramatta home in the early hours of the day before.

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