A jury recently heard chilling recordings from police surveillance devices capturing a suspect discussing the brutal dismemberment of a supposed victim.
Sheree Glastonbury, 51, and Mark Murphy, 54, face trial in the Supreme Court of South Australia, accused of murdering 55-year-old Geoffrey McLean in August 2022.
The court was informed that Glastonbury and McLean had a turbulent relationship, with Glastonbury reportedly expressing intense hatred towards McLean, claiming she despised him more than anyone else.
On Wednesday, prosecutor Melissa Wilkinson outlined the circumstantial nature of the evidence, which includes mobile phone records, communication logs, internet search histories, CCTV footage, and police surveillance recordings.
According to phone data, Murphy visited the home shared by Glastonbury and McLean in Andrews Farm on August 18, 2022. “Mr. McLean never left that house alive again,” Wilkinson stated.
In February 2023, a surveillance device at Murphy’s residence in Brahma Lodge recorded him recounting a conversation with Glastonbury about the incident.
Murphy lived at the home with his twin brother Peter James Murphy, 54, and Lynette Joy Sexton, 52, who are also on trial charged with assisting an offender.
“(Mark Murphy) explained that (Glastonbury) said she was going to give Mr McLean a sleeping tablet and make him sleep ⦠then went on to say that she then gave him a shooter, and that, he said, was what overdosed him,” Wilkinson said.
Mark Murphy was also recorded recounting how he dragged McLean out to the carport, used a hacksaw to cut his arms and legs off, and had “trouble getting the torso in the car because he could not lift it on his own, so he cut his head off”.
In the surveillance recordings, Mark Murphy also spoke about staging an overdose by putting McLean in a wheelchair and leaving him in a park.
“None of that happened, though, because rigor mortis had set in, the body was laying flat, and they could not sit him in the wheelchair,” Wilkinson said.
On the night of the alleged murder, McLean’s eBay account was used to buy men’s and women’s sneakers and golf equipment, totalling nearly $3000.
“It’s alleged that steps were being taken to make it look like ⦠he was alive and well when on the prosecution case, he was at least already incapacitated,” Wilkinson said.
Glastonbury reported McLean missing to police on August 29, 10 days after she said he had left their home.
On August 19, Glastonbury and Mark Murphy “were still in the process of their cleanup, and the method and location for the disposal was still needed”.
Mark Murphy booked a short term rental property at Cadell in the SA Riverland for two nights, which Wilkinson said was an ideal location to dispose of a body.
On August 23, Glastonbury and Mark Murphy used a truck hired by Peter Murphy to drive to the property, Wilkinson said.
But they missed the turn-off and were lost in the middle of the night, failing to find the remote cottage they were searching for.
On October 24, 2022, a contractor slashing grass on a vacant block at Salisbury South found a wheelie bin with an “overpowering” smell, its lid sealed with screws.
Police found McLean’s torso inside.
The bin’s serial number was traced to the property next door to the Murphy brothers’ Brahma Lodge home.
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