A man accused of transporting Melbourne teen Isla Bell’s body in a fridge is attempting to be freed on bail as her mother spoke of “paralysing grief” over the 19-year-old’s alleged murder.
Eyal Yaffe, 57, appeared at the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday, where details of his alleged involvement in Bell’s alleged killing were aired after he was charged with assisting her accused murderer Marat Ganiev.
The teen was last seen leaving her Brunswick home on October 4, but had been communicating with a friend on social media for another three days, court documents alleged.
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CCTV cameras allegedly observed Bell entering Ganiev’s St Kilda East apartment on October 5 before capturing a fight occurring through a gap in the apartment’s front kitchen window two days later, Detective Senior Constable Benjamin Curran said on Friday.
Police alleged Bell was alive until 2am on October 7.
Over the next few days, Ganiev was allegedly seen cleaning his apartment before it’s claimed Yaffe arrived in a RAV4 on October 9 towing a black fridge on the back of a trailer.
Yaffe had allegedly booked overnight accommodation in Warburton in eastern Victoria on October 8, but the detective told the court Ganiev asked Yaffe to contact him before he left.
The accused travelled to Warburton for five hours before returning without staying the night, he said.
It was alleged Yaffe cut short his trip after a call from Ganiev and returned to Melbourne before he supplied the black fridge and removed the old fridge, which contained Bell’s remains.
Bell’s body had allegedly been inside the old fridge for 10 days, which the detective said would have had a “distinct smell”.
“The accused found the fridge containing something and that smelled foul. The accused assisted in the removal of that fridge to a second address,” he said.
“It is not possible for the accused not to have known, given (his) knowledge of Ganiev’s drug use and behaviour, and the fact that he had a young female in the apartment … and not believe she had been killed.”
Police allege Bell’s remains had been placed inside a bag and stuffed into a fridge, which was then wrapped in clear plastic before being dumped outside the apartment.
It was removed on October 17 and transported across half a dozen locations in Melbourne’s southeast before human remains, yet to be formally identified but believed to be of Bell, were found at a tip in Dandenong, in Melbourne’s outer east, on Tuesday.
Prosecutors on Friday opposed bail, arguing Yaffe was an unacceptable risk to the community’s safety.
Prosecutor Daniel White claimed Yaffe could interfere with witnesses and could assume other identities and fail to surrender into custody.
“(He) has been evasive in the investigation and interaction with police has been evasive,” Det Sen Const Curran said.
But Yaffe’s barrister Ian Hill KC argued the case was solely relying on circumstantial evidence, as he asked for his client to be freed on bail.
He said investigators did not have any witnesses or evidence to indicate Yaffe was aware of Bell’s alleged murder or that her body was in the fridge, as the hearing continues.
Outside court, Bell’s mother Justine Spokes said she had been horrified to read the grisly details of her daughter’s murder.
“My grief is paralysing, and I cannot function,” she wrote in a post on social media.