Accused killer Greg Lynn has apologised in court to the families of two dead campers and admitted he deserves punishment for the despicable act of destroying evidence.
Warning: This story contains details that may distress some readers.
But the 57-year-old has insisted he did not murder Carol Clay or Russell Hill.
Mr Lynn is accused of murder over the deaths of Russell Hill, 74, and Carol Clay, 73, in the Wonnangatta Valley, in Victoria's north-east, in March 2020.
"All I can say to their families is that I'm very sorry for your suffering," Mr Lynn told a Supreme Court jury on Thursday.
"I should be punished for what I did.
"I am innocent of murder."
Defence barrister Dermot Dann KC said Mr Lynn had offered to plead guilty to a charge of destroying police evidence, before the murder trial begin.
Mr Lynn, who gave evidence on Thursday, was the defence's only witness.
He claimed he would have lost his career as a Jetstar pilot, putting his family in financial jeopardy, if police found out Mr Hill had taken a gun from his car and used it to accidentally shoot Ms Clay.
"Storage of the firearm, related to the death of one person, and my understanding was with that sort of significance … I would not be able to hold an ASIC [Aviation Security Identification Card] and my career would be over," he said.
"We still had a mortgage on our house … it would've caused severe financial hardship."
But he admitted that "things are worse for me now" as he was on trial for two murders.
"It's a disaster and it would've been a disaster if I had've gone to police. At the time it seemed magnitude of disaster was irrelevant," Mr Lynn said.
"I never expected to be in this courthouse."
'It was my training to remain calm'
Mr Lynn said he went into crisis mode after Mr Hill accidentally shot Ms Clay in the head and then came at him with a knife, leading to Mr Hill being fatally stabbed in the chest.
His training as a pilot helped give him presence of mind to burn the campsite and dispose of the camper couple's bodies.
"I had the presence of mind to achieve those things and it was my training to remain calm," he told the jury.
"I was a panicked person, I've been trained to remain calm. I can manage stress."
Mr Lynn put the bodies in his car's trailer and took them to remote bushland of the Union Spur track, returning in November 2020 to burn the remains.
He said his idea after covering up Mr Hill and Ms Clay's deaths was to "disappear" and admitted that destroying police evidence was "despicable".
Hill 'probably not' intending to shoot Lynn, accused tells court
Earlier, Mr Lynn described struggling over the gun with Mr Hill, raising his arms as he showed how he was trying to retrieve the weapon from Mr Hill.
Four or five shots went off during the struggle, with a bullet going through the car's side mirror and then into Ms Clay's head, he said.
He said he was not sure whether Mr Hill was intending to shoot him.
"Probably not, I think he was trying to keep the shotgun for himself and scare me off," Mr Lynn said.
After realising Ms Clay had been shot, he said Mr Hill came at him with a knife and another struggle ensued leading to Mr Hill's death.
Mr Dann asked Mr Lynn about the crime scene, which the accused double murderer said was covered in blood and skin tissue.
"There was a large pool of blood on the ground," Mr Lynn said.
He said he used gloves to clean up the scene, which he had inside his car from when he helped Jetstar crew clean up after he flew planes.
"Most of the pilots take off and leave the cabin crew do that, but I always grabbed gloves and helped them do that," he said.
Asked why he used gloves to clean the campsite scene, he replied: "The scene was horrendous."
The court's upstairs public gallery had to be closed as it became full before he gave evidence, with Mr Lynn's wife Melanie and one of his sons watching on.
Lynn 'lied to wife to protect her'
Later in the day, Mr Lynn faced cross-examination from prosecutor Daniel Porceddu.
Mr Porceddu zeroed in on Mr Lynn's decision to cover up the campers' deaths by moving their bodies and setting fire to their campsite, as well as his decision to clean his gun.
"On your version, Mr Hill's fingerprints would've also been on the magazine?" Mr Porceddu asked.
"This would've been key to your defence wouldn't it?"
Mr Lynn replied: "I never expected to be in this courthouse."
Mr Lynn also said he was not up-front with his wife Melanie about the deaths to "protect" her.
"I lied to my wife. I lied to my wife to protect her," Mr Lynn said.
"Didn't you lie to your wife to protect yourself?" prosecutor Daniel Porceddu countered.
"No. If I told her, she would then be involved in it," Mr Lynn replied.
After Mr Lynn's evidence concluded, the jury was sent out to return next Tuesday.
Mr Porceddu and Mr Dann will make their closing arguments next week.
AAP/ABC
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2024-06-06 04:33:31Z
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