1. SNNEWS SHEPPARTON NEWS, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2015 5
Michelle Buckingham trial
Closing summaries given
CROWN PROSECUTOR SAYS WORDS CANNOT BE UNSAID, WHILE DEFENCE BARRISTER SAYS EVIDENCE LACKING
By Elaine Cooney
The closing summaries of the crown pros-
ecutor and defence barristers in the
Supreme Court trial into the murder of
Shepparton teenager Michelle Buckingham
were delivered yesterday.
Steven James Bradley, 53, accused of the
1983 murder of 16-year-old Michelle Buck-
ingham, pleaded not guilty to the charge at
the trial, held in Shepparton.
● The trial continues today.
Heading into hearing: Family and friends of Michelle Buckingham arrive at the Supreme
Court trial in Shepparton.
Details ‘important’
Crown prosecutor:
Andrew Tinney
Witness, Norman Gribble’s
memory:
Mr Tinney opened his sum-
mary by telling the jury
members that the ability to
communicate with each
other was central to being
human.
‘‘With a mere look or a
touch, we can convey a
great deal, but the real
power to communicate
comes of course with lan-
guage, and in particular, the
spoken word . . .’’ he said.
‘‘Words once said cannot be
unsaid, and that can be a
problem.’’
Mr Tinney said words for
some might be a source of
lifelong regret.
He said the ‘‘unguarded and
raw’’ words Mr Bradley con-
fessed to his brother-in-law
Norman Gribble in 1983,
haunted the accused man
for more than 30 years.
He said the fact that Mr
Bradley chose to confide in
Mr Gribble about the mur-
der of Michelle Bucking-
ham, showed the nature of
their relationship.
Mr Tinney said the informa-
tion Mr Bradley shared with
Mr Gribble was critically
important and he needed to
listen carefully and remem-
ber.
‘‘No more important thing
could ever have been said
to him by anyone,’’ he said.
Mr Tinney said Mr Bradley’s
confession about the mur-
der of the teenager and the
disposal of her body was
‘‘stunningly important’’ to
Mr Gribble.
He said Norm Gribble could
‘‘never have been mistaken
or confused’’ when a close
family member said ‘‘I killed
someone,’’ and ‘‘We killed
someone’’.
Mr Tinney said Mr Gribble’s
truthfulness was not an
issue that concerned the
defence and it was never
suggested the witness lied.
Mr Tinney said it was
unclear why Steven Brad-
ley’s brother harboured
‘‘great animosity’’ towards
Norman Gribble in court.
‘‘It was Lawrie Bradley who
spilled the beans . . .’’ he
said.
Accused Steven Bradley’s
DVD interviews:
Mr Tinney said Mr Bradley
was ‘‘lying through his teeth
pretty much from start to
finish’’.
‘‘. . . I am in no way suggest-
ing to you that, because he
is a liar, that he is guilty of
murder,’’ he said.
‘‘He just lied from the very
start.’’
Mr Tinney said he lied
throughout the first, second
and third interview and by
the time it came to the final
police interview (where he
made admissions to his
involvement in the murder)
Mr Bradley had ‘‘shown
himself to be a person who
was completely unworthy of
being believed at all.’’
He said the final interview
was ‘‘self-serving’’.
Was it Friday or Saturday?
Mr Tinney addressed the
fact that Mr Gribble claimed
the murder happened on a
Friday night and Mr Bradley
claimed it was on a Satur-
day.
He said Mr Gribble believed
the murder took place the
previous (Friday) night, but
Mr Bradley’s version sug-
gested the murder, by Rod-
ney Butler, took place on a
Saturday ‘‘in broad day-
light’’ in the carpark at the
Pine Lodge Hotel.
‘‘What would be the likeli-
hood, that the murder could
have remained unsolved for
30 years, if it had been com-
mitted in broad daylight in a
car park of a hotel?’’
‘‘The hotel in which both the
perpetrator and the victim
had been loudly arguing in
the time before the murder,
it’s just impossible, ridicu-
lous.’’
On Rodney Butler:
‘‘Far be it for me to pump up
the tyres of Rodney Butler,
because on the Crown case,
as on the defence case,
Rodney Butler is a mur-
derer.
‘‘So I’m not telling you he’s
a great bloke, but the
accused in this court,
through the efforts of his
counsel to blacken the
name of Mr Butler, reduced
Butler to almost the level of
a pantomime villain, to
blame for everything.’’
‘No other evidence’
Ready to close: Defence barristers Stephen Payne and James Fitzgerald enter the court in
Shepparton.
Defence barrister: James
Fitzgerald
Witness, Norman Gribble’s
evidence:
Mr Fitzgerald said that pros-
ecution was asking the jury
to convict Steven James
Bradley on Norman Gribb-
le’s testimony.
‘‘Norman Gribble wasn’t
there when Michelle Buck-
ingham died, and there is no
other evidence that points
to any particular person or
persons having committed
the crime, other than what
Mr Gribble says,’’ Mr Fitz-
gerald said.
‘‘There’s no DNA; there are
no fingerprints; there are no
eyewitnesses,’’ he said.
Mr Fitzgerald asked the jury
if it considered Steven Brad-
ley killed Michelle Bucking-
ham and Rodney Butler and
Trevor Corrigan were not
involved, to ask how he car-
ried it out.
‘‘Where did he do it? When
did he do it? Why would he
do it?’’
Mr Fitzgerald argued that
Crown prosecutor Andrew
Tinney could not answer
those questions.
On Rodney Butler:
Mr Fitzgerald raised witness
Gary Matthews’ evidence
that Rodney Butler (who Mr
Bradley alleges murdered
Michelle Buckingham) was
fascinated with knives and
‘‘appallingly cruel to ani-
mals’’.
He said another witness,
Jodie McNeill, told the court
Mr Butler was ‘‘sick in the
mind’’ cruel to animals and
that he scared her.
Mr Fitzgerald said when Mr
Butler allegedly said that
they all had to stab Miss
Buckingham and stood
behind Mr Bradley as he
‘‘tapped’’ the teenager in
the stomach, it was a ‘‘ter-
rible situation’’.
‘‘This would throw anyone,’’
he said.
‘‘Who knows what people
might do, try and do?
‘‘It's easy enough in the ser-
enity of a courtroom 32
years later for Mr Tinney to
stand up and say, ‘It's
utterly implausible’.
‘‘This is a long way from the
heat of that moment.’’
Mr Bradley’s police inter-
views:
Mr Fitzgerald admitted that
his client appeared to strug-
gle deciphering nightmares
and reality in the initial pol-
ice interviews, but he did
know what happened.
He knows he’s committed
an offence by helping to dis-
pose of the body.
Mr Fitzgerald said Mr Brad-
ley hoped to avoid being
accused of that crime as
well as murder.
He commended Mr Brad-
ley’s composure in his final
police interview.
Mr Fitzgerald said Mr Brad-
ley offered a calm, candid
account of what happened
the night Miss Buckingham
was murdered.
‘‘He describes the morning
starting out at the Over-
lander Hotel,’’ he said.
Mr Fitzgerald said Mr Brad-
ley told police he was at the
hotel with Trevor Corrigan,
Rodney Butler and Michelle
Buckingham.
Mr Fitzgerald said the facts
of the account Mr Bradley
gave were backed by evi-
dence of general patholog-
ist Dr Norman Sonenberg
who performed the autopsy
on Miss Buckingham and
evidence about Rodney But-
ler.
‘‘The only evidence you
have to the contrary in this
case comes from Norm
Gribble and unlike Steven
Bradley, he wasn't there,’’
Mr Fitzgerald said.