Isla Bell: Court hears bid to throw out case
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Melbourne was worried when Isla Bell disappeared, saddened when her body was found, shocked when charges for her murder were dropped, and now as arguments for the case to be thrown out completely are made, there have been rallies outside the Supreme Court. I'm Stephen Stockwell. This is The Case Of.
Victoria Police have charged two men in relation to the suspicious disappearance of a missing Melbourne teenager.
Isla, then 19, was last seen leaving her home in Brunswick.
Six weeks later, a grim discovery, with Miss Bell's remains found at a Dandenong tip.
A 53-year-old man has been charged with murder and a 57-year-old man has been charged with assisting in a murder. This is a very difficult day to see the charges that have been dropped.
And the rage in me, I just... I promise bub, I fought hard. I fought with my every breath.
Isla Bell disappeared in late 2024. Weeks later, her body was found at a tip, and we took a look at this story a few months ago when it was revealed that no one would be held responsible for her death. But now, the man who was originally charged with her murder, Murat Gagnev, may not face any charges at all, with his defence applying for a permanent stay in proceedings. It is an incredible turnaround from a murder charge to potentially nothing at all. And following this story has been ABC court reporter Christian Silva. Christian, welcome back to The Case Of. Thanks for having me, Stocky. Isla Bell was 19 years old when her body was found in a fridge at a rubbish dump in late 2024. Can you remind us of the timeline of the charges that Murat Ganev has faced?
Well, yeah, Stockie, after the body was found, police charged him with murder. The case then went through the fairly slow legal process through the magistrate's court in the early stages. It then went to a committal hearing where the prosecution evidence was put to somewhat of a test. It passed that test because a magistrate committed the case up to the Supreme Court for trial on a murder charge. The defense wanted the case thrown out at that point, but failed. Then the case reached the Supreme Court, and we found out that the prosecution had filed a new indictment for manslaughter. And that changed, obviously, the game. And then at some point after that, the manslaughter charge was dropped and a new indictment was filed.
for a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice. So as you said, all charges relating to Isla's death were abandoned and then the charge became about what Gagnev is alleged to have done. It's the alleged cover-up of Isla's death.
Okay, so Christian, it's a pretty dramatic turnaround from, you know, a murder charge at the beginning all the way through to now attempting to pervert the course of justice. Can you take us back and explain kind of what police were alleging had happened at that early stage?
So police alleged that when Isla Bell went into Murat Gagnev's apartment that she was attacked. They claimed that there was some CCTV which showed this and they claimed that after this alleged attack that her body was put in his fridge and then that fridge was taken out of the property and then the fridge was moved around Melbourne and eventually what happened was the body was found dead. at the tip. The big sticking point in this case, Stocky, has been the cause of death. And what we learned at the committal was that several forensic experts who analysed the body could not determine a cause of death.
What happened in the disappearance and discovery of Isla Bell?
Part of that was down to the fact that the body was decomposed after several weeks before it was found.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–4:26
2
What happened in the disappearance and discovery of Isla Bell?
4:26–12:32
3
How did the charges against Marat Ganiev evolve from murder to manslaughter to perverting justice?
12:32–19:52
4
What did police allege happened at Ganiev's apartment and with the fridge timeline?
19:52–22:05
5
Why was cause of death a ‘big sticking point’ for the prosecution?
22:05–22:49
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from The Case Of
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