Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
ABC Listen, podcasts, radio, news, music and more.
Chapter 2: What happened to Samantha Murphy on February 4, 2024?
Samantha Murphy disappeared in 2024 while running near her home in Ballarat. Patrick Stevenson was charged with her murder. The trial was set to start in April, but as usual with court, not everything goes to the original timeline. I'm Stephen Stockwell.
Chapter 3: Who is Patrick Stevenson and what are the charges against him?
This is The Case Of...
The 51-year-old was last seen leaving her home on Eureka Street for a trail run in the Wawakarung Regional Park.
On February 4th, Ms Murphy left her Ballarat East home for her regular Sunday morning workout, but never returned.
Police say she had her mobile phone and was wearing a watch with GPS tracking.
Mum, we love you so much and we miss you. Ballarat man Patrick Oren Stevenson was arrested and charged with Ms Murphy's murder...
A few times a week, we get an email asking if we'll be covering the trial of the man accused of murdering Samantha Murphy in Ballarat, Patrick Stevenson.
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Chapter 4: Why has the trial for Patrick Stevenson been delayed?
And in short, the answer is yes. But because so many of you are interested in this trial, we wanted to explain where it is all up to at the moment. And to help us along, I'm very pleased to be joined by ABC reporter Laura Mayers. Laura, welcome to The Case Of.
Stockie, thank you so much for having me.
Really appreciate having you here for this episode to kind of unpack what's happening with the trial around Patrick Stevenson, the man accused of murdering Samantha Murphy in Ballarat. Because, you know, when you look online, as a lot of KSOF listeners have done, you see a trial date set for April. Now, that period has obviously passed.
We've had a lot of emails coming in saying, hey, you're going to cover this trial.
Chapter 5: What are the restrictions during the pre-trial process?
What's happening? Laura, this trial hasn't started yet, has it?
Yes, I can confirm that that trial has not commenced at this stage.
Yeah, and I mean, you are watching very closely. You're based in Ballarat for the ABC and you reported on this story when Samantha Murphy went missing. Can you just give us a quick reminder of what happened?
So, Samantha Murphy, a mother of three, 51-year-old, went missing on February 4th, and that's 2024. She went for a run and failed to return home. There were several searches, multiple searches over the days and weeks following her disappearance.
Chapter 6: What updates are there on the pre-trial hearings for Patrick Stevenson?
She was never found. And in March, a man was arrested and charged. That was one count of murder. That was Patrick Stevenson. On November 14, 2024, Mr. Stevenson entered a not guilty plea to that one charge.
And Laura, who is Patrick Stevenson?
So Patrick Stevenson was 22 when he was arrested and charged with that one count of murder. He's currently 24. He's from the Ballarat region and he is the son of an AFL footballer. And we know that he was pretty active in sports groups in the region as well.
Got it. Okay. Thank you, Laura. And I mean, as you mentioned, Patrick Stevenson, you know, arrested and charged a couple of years ago now. Where's this trial up to?
Chapter 7: What other significant cases are being monitored in the legal system?
Yeah, so there's no date that has been set yet. Previously, we had reported that it was expected the trial was going to commence in June this year, but we are currently working through the pre-trial process at the moment.
Got it. And through this pre-trial process, I remember this from following the trial of Erin Patterson, we are really quite restricted on what we can actually talk about during this time, aren't we?
Yeah, that's right. So we're currently operating under the sub judice rules. So that is under judicial consideration, everything that makes up the basis of this charge. Basically, nothing within that can be publicly discussed. But what I can say is that it is being held in Melbourne, these pretrial hearings. And obviously, the basis of that is that one charge of murder.
Yeah, got it. And yeah, when these hearings are on, I think we can talk about who's in the room for these hearings, if the hearings adjourned for a certain date, things like that.
Chapter 8: How can listeners engage with the podcast regarding ongoing cases?
But yeah, speaking of, I guess, who's in those hearings, in the last couple of kind of pre-trial hearings that have happened, Patrick Stevenson's been represented by this one barrister. But prior to kind of these last three or four hearings, his barrister had been Moira O'Brien. Is that right?
So previously we had been hearing from Barrister Moya O'Brien. Now we are hearing from Theo Casamates, who has been a Silk since 2016. He's been practising for over 20 years and we've been hearing from him in the pre-trial hearings.
Got it. Yeah. And I mean, there's a whole bunch of pretrial hearings that happen. There's all sorts of things that are discussed in that. And as you mentioned, Laura, this trial was originally, there was a date that was in some reporting of April. Obviously, we're past April at this point. Can you talk to us about any of the reasons for that delay?
The short answer is no. So there are a lot of different reasons why, I mean, what makes up these pretrial hearings. And there's a lot of different reasons why there might be a delay. It could be the sort of the availability of the parties, the barristers, those involved, the availability of the judge.
There are discussions that need to happen when it comes to evidence, any kind of evidence, any kind of witnesses that might be presenting evidence. And none of which we can actually go into, as I said, because of those rules of sub judice. So we cannot discuss them publicly. There are a lot of restrictions on reporting when it comes to pretrial hearings for good reason.
Yeah, absolutely. You know, a lot of these pretrial hearings we will be able to talk about at the end of the trial once that point arrives. But yeah, at this point, we're up to two. in the process. We can't go into any of this. And yeah, we're really quite restricted in what we can talk about, basically, that there are hearings underway, who's at them.
And Laura, as you mentioned, where they are, because these hearings are being held at the moment in Melbourne at the Supreme Court. Laura, is there anything else you can give us around the timing or the process for the trial of Patrick Stevenson?
Not at this stage, but I will say that we are keeping on it very closely.
Yeah, absolutely. We have a Teams chat that we're regularly in touch with Laura in, talking about where things are up to with this trial. And we'll certainly keep you up to date with the progress of the trial of Patrick Stevenson, the man accused of murdering Samantha Murphy in Ballarat in 2024. Laura, thank you so much for joining us and giving us this update.
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