The Victorian house where convicted murderer Adrian Basham killed his estranged wife has been ordered to be forfeited by a judge, ending Basham’s fight to keep it.
For killing Samantha Fraser, his estranged wife and the mother of his children, on July 23, 2018, Basham is presently serving a life sentence.
In order to finance his appeal against his conviction, he had planned to rent out the Cowes residence.
However, after Basham was sentenced to prison in 2022, Victoria’s Director of Public Prosecutions filed an application to have the property taken, claiming the residence was contaminated because it was the scene of the murder.
Today, Basham appeared before the Supreme Court, where Justice Lesley Taylor gave the go-ahead for the seizure of his property.
In her decision today, Taylor stated, “I think the real property should be forfeited.”
“I am confident that it was utilised, if not directly involved in, the murder that Basham committed.
“It was a premeditated murder that occurred against a background of family violence and seven days before Ms Fraser was to give evidence in the committal hearing of rape allegations she made against Basham.”
The two children of Basham are probably going to get the proceeds from the property, along with a motorbike that Basham used to escape the murder scene.
