Overview

• Marat Ganiev, 54, is charged with murdering 19-year-old Isla Bell, and Eyal Yaffe, 58, is charged with assisting an offender and attempting to pervert the course of justice.
• Defence counsel asked for a discharge under section 141, arguing the prosecution cannot exclude an overdose or other non-homicidal explanations and that some injuries may have occurred inside a garbage truck.
• Forensic pathologist Hans de Boer said severe decomposition prevented determining a cause or time of death, and toxicology detected methamphetamine, methadone, cocaine and MDMA.
• Prosecutors acknowledged the case is circumstantial but argued it should go to a jury, citing alleged CCTV of an altercation, claimed lies to police, witness accounts of a putrid smell from a moved refrigerator, and an alleged admission that Ms Bell’s body was placed in a fridge.
• Magistrate Michelle Mykytowycz adjourned after a three-day hearing and will deliver her committal decision on October 31 at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court.