‘Unprecedented’ evidence: Samantha Murphy case delayed

Samantha Murphy’s alleged murderer will wait behind bars for another three months before her case returns due to the “unprecedented” brief of evidence against him, a court has been told.

Patrick Orren Stephenson, the son of a former AFL player, faced Ballarat Magistrates Court on Thursday morning by video link from prison, wearing a white T-shirt.

The 22-year-old has been charged with the murder of mother-of-three Ms Murphy, 51, at Mount Clear, after she went missing on February 4.

Prosecutors asked the court to add the committal mention for 12 weeks on Thursday, to allow them to go through a brief of evidence which contains “extensive” CCTV.

“We appreciate that is a significant period of time,” prosecutor Daniel White told the court.

“The brief is extensive and involves an extensive amount of CCTV footage.”

Stephenson’s barrister Moya O’Brien agreed to the three-month delay as she said the evidence brief had only recently been served on defense and was “described as unprecedented in terms of size.”

Magistrate Mark Stratmann said three months was “a long time” for Stephenson and the community to wait.

“It’s a case that needs to be moved quickly,” he said.

He agreed to allow the adjournment, and remanded Stephenson in custody until the case returns to the Ballarat court on November 14.

Ms O’Brien said she had visited Stephenson this week and there were no updates for the court on his custody management.

He is also facing driving charges from a crash on October 1 last year.

Stephenson has been charged with careless driving, drinking and drug driving over a single vehicle collision involving a motorcycle in Ballarat, police said previously.

However, no details were aired in court on these charges and that matter was also posted to November 14.

Stephenson is the son of former AFL player Orren Stephenson, who played 15 games for Geelong and Richmond between 2012 and 2014.

Ms Murphy went for a jog on February 4, but her body is yet to be found despite extensive searches by police and members of the public.