The heartbroken husband of missing Ballarat mum Samantha Murphy has stared down her alleged killer for the first time in court.
Mick Murphy could barely disguise his emotions on Thursday when Patrick Orren Stephenson pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife.
Seated at the front of the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court, Mr Murphy glared at the video screen in court where Stephenson appeared from the safety of a video room within Melbourne Assessment Prison.
Now sporting long hair and a woolly beard, Stephenson appeared calm as he officially denied murdering Ms Murphy, whose body has still not been found.
With his arms crossed, relaxed Stephenson simply uttered the words ‘not guilty, you honour’ when asked for his plea.
The matter will now be fast-tracked directly to the Supreme Court of Victoria, setting the stage for a jury trial that will likely run sometime late next year.
Flanked by Crown prosecutor Ray Gibson and Homicide Squad police, Mr Murphy refused to comment to a waiting media pack outside the court.
While Stephenson has appeared in court previously both in person and via video link, it is the first time Mr Murphy has laid eyes on his wife’s alleged killer.
A shattered Mick Murphy (far right) leaves the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court behind police and the prosecutor
Dressed in white, Stephenson heard three new statements had been obtained by detectives since he last fronted court.
One of those witnesses was named as Doctor Matthew Sorrell, who is an expert in digital forensic science.
The mother-of-three vanished without a trace on the morning of February 4 after leaving her home on Eureka Street in Ballarat East, Victoria.
Her family reported her missing later that day after she failed to show up to a family brunch.
Few developments in the police case have been made public since May 29 when police found what appeared to be Ms Murphy’s phone, raising hopes they might soon be close to finding her remains.
The phone was retrieved on the muddy banks of a dam positioned along the Buninyong-Mount Mercer Road in the same region the phone last connected to a mobile phone tower before it went dark.
An image of the device pulled from the scene showed what appeared to be an Apple iPhone contained in a wallet stuffed with identification cards.
Samantha Murphy vanished in February and is now presumed dead
Samantha Murphy’s husband Mick Murphy leaves a Ballarat court on Thursday
Samantha and Mick Murphy in happier times
The dam sits about 15km from Ballarat East where Ms Murphy took off on her final run early that summer Sunday morning.
Aerial footage from the scene showed police officers hugging, backslapping and shaking hands as they examined the phone.
Mr Murphy later confirmed he instantly recognised his wife’s phone upon seeing the dramatic television footage.
His wife had long used such a wallet to protect her phone and hold her various credit and identity cards.
It had been pictured in a Facebook photo alongside Mr Murphy in a happy snap from their final Bali trip.
The contents of that phone and what, if any, help it has provided investigators in finding Ms Murphy’s body remains unclear.
Patrick Orren Stephenson, 22, is accused of murdering Ms Murphy while she was out on a Sunday jog.
The final haunting image of Samantha Murphy alive on the day of her last jog
Police celebrate after finding what is believed to be Ms Murphy’s phone in a dam
Forensic tests remain ongoing on the phone as police work to obtain data from it in a bid to receive further clues.
Reports indicate the phone was found to be in a near-perfect working condition.
Police remain tight-lipped over how the investigation is progressing, advising only that the search for Ms Murphy’s body continued.
Stephenson, 22, is accused of murdering Ms Murphy while she was out on a Sunday jog.
It is understood Stephenson, who was arrested five weeks after Ms Murphy was allegedly murdered, has not told police where her body is located.
He is due to appear for a preliminary hearing at the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court in August.
Stephenson is the son of former AFL Richmond and Geelong AFL player, Orren Stephenson and is not known to the Murphy family.
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