The daughter of a camper murdered by a former Jetstar pilot in Victoria’s high country says Gregory Lynn “stole” her mother from her, as prosecutors seek a life sentence over the killing.
Lynn, 57, appeared in the Victorian supreme court on Thursday for a pre-sentencing hearing after a jury in June found him guilty of murdering Carol Clay in 2020. He was acquitted of murdering her fellow camper Russell Hill.
Lynn had pleaded not guilty to both murder charges.
Crown prosecutor Daniel Porceddu told the court he would be seeking the maximum penalty of 25 years’ imprisonment for Clay’s murder, which he described as “cold-blooded and callous”.
Reading a victim impact statement, Clay’s daughter, Emma Davies, who refused to use Lynn’s name, told the court what had occurred to her mother was like a “horror movie”.
“He [Lynn] stole my mother from me. He stole my children’s grandmother. He took her life, he took her dignity and he took her privacy,” Davies said.
“He destroyed all the evidence … he burned her beyond all possible recognition.”
She described Clay as a “phenomenal” person with an infectious laugh who campaigned for women’s rights in her community.
“Her life had been devoted to others,” she said.
“She was a woman of action who rarely stood still. Always knitting and preserving.”
Alison Abbott, a friend of Clay’s who met her at school, said she had struggled to accept the “tragic” circumstances of the murder.
“The [ABBA] song Waterloo was our special party song. When I hear that song now it brings tears to my eyes,” she said.
Clay’s sister, Jillian Walker, said via video link that “losing Carol was like losing half my life.”
She described Lynn’s actions as “evil, wicked and unconscionable”.
Porceddu told the court Lynn’s offending was in the worst category of murder and he had shown no remorse. He described an apology that Lynn gave when testifying during the trial as “self-serving.”
He told the court that Lynn’s disposal and burning of the remains of Hill and Clay were aggravating factors that must be considered by justice Michael Croucher in his sentencing.
He said the general deterrence was an important principle in determining Lynn’s sentence.
“Mrs Clay suffered a very violent death,” he said.
Porceddu said Lynn’s burning of evidence left Clay’s family in “anguish” for 20 months as they waited for information about what happened to her.
He told the court it was a serious murder, because Lynn intended to kill Clay and he was driven by a desire to eliminate her as a witness of Hill’s death.
Clay was an older person and “posed no threat to Lynn,” Porceddu added.
Lynn’s defence lawyer, Dermot Dann KC, acknowledged Clay’s death had a “devastating” effect on her family and friends.
He said his client maintained his innocence, although Lynn accepted he acted “despicably” in disposing and burning the bodies.
The defence was a “very long way apart” from the prosecution’s calls for a life sentence, he said.
He said the defence remained “gravely troubled” by the verdict, flagging it could be appealed.
Dann said a sentence would need to be considered on the basis that no motive had been established.
He raised issues with how the jury had come to a split verdict. But Porceddu said there had “obviously been an interaction” between Hill and Lynn.
He added Lynn had prepared a further apology to the families of Hill and Clay which recognised his conduct and treatment of their bodies was “selfish and callous.”
Dann rejected the prosecution’s argument Lynn had shown no remorse and said “of course” he maintained his innocence in relation to the guilty verdict. He argued there was no evidence Lynn’s offending was in the worst category of murder and deserving of the maximum penalty because it was unclear from the jury’s verdict how much of Lynn’s version of events they had rejected.
Hill’s wife, Robyn, and one of his daughters, Colleen Turnbull, sat in the courtroom during the hearing on Thursday.
Lynn faces a maximum penalty of 25 years, known as life imprisonment, for murder. This would include the almost three years Lynn has already spent in custody since he was arrested and charged in 2021, the court heard.
The supreme court previously heard Hill, 74, had been camping with 73-year-old Clay, with whom he had been having an affair, when they both died.
In June, after a five-week trial, a jury found Lynn guilty of one murder charge and acquitted him of the other.
Croucher will hand down Lynn’s sentence on 18 October.
Lynn was camping at Bucks Camp, a remote site in the Wonnangatta Valley, when he was joined in the valley by Hill and Clay in March 2020.
