Eyal Yaffe: Man accused of helping cover up Isla Bell’s alleged murder seeks bail

Human remains located at a Melbourne tip on Tuesday have been confirmed to be Isla Bell as a man accused of helping her alleged killer sought bail.

Eyal Yaffe, 57, returned before the Melbourne Magistrates Court on Friday for a bid to be freed after spending three days in custody following his arrest earlier this week.

The former jeweller is facing a charge of assist offender (murder) — relating to his alleged actions to help cover up the death of Isla Bell and assist her accused killer, Marat Ganiev, 53, avoid detection.

Remains now confirmed to be those of Ms Bell were located at a waste management facility in Dandenong on Tuesday morning before police arrested Mr Ganiev, Mr Yaffe and another man who was later released without charge.

Mr Yaffe, the court was told, had tickets to Bulgaria departing the following day.

Despite only working part time, police allege Mr Yaffe was in possession of $150,000, designer clothes, jewellery and identity documents belonging to other people.

Police are opposing Mr Yaffe’s bail, alleging the Israel-born Australian citizen is a flight risk and has access to “significant unexplained wealth”.

Prosecutor Daniel White argued that Mr Yaffe posed an unacceptable risk of interfering with witnesses, breaching bail conditions and endangering community safety.

“It is alleged by police that the applicant engaged in a series of acts with the purpose of impeding the apprehension, prosecution or punishment of the man accused of committing that murder... over the better part of a month,” he said.

His lawyers have sought he be released to live with his son and suggested he could be electronically monitored.

But the lead investigator, Detective Senior Constable Benjamin Curran, told the court that Mr Yaffe had an extensive criminal history and, he believed, was highly motivated to flee.

Mr Yaffe’s barrister Ian Hill KC told magistrate Rohan Lawrence there were “real triable issues” in the case about whether the accused man knew Ms Bell’s body was in the fridge and that she’d been murdered.

“The facts are clear, there’s no direct evidence and we say no evidence from which it can be inferred,” he said.

The court was told Mr Yaffe’s son, Ziv Yaffe, had offered up a $20,000 surety and was prepared to have his dad live at his home.

Taking the stand, the 28-year-old said prior to his arrest his dad was working for his painting business doing light duties such as cleaning and moving furniture because of a bad back.

He told the court he was prepared to have oversight of Mr Yaffee “every minute of the day”.

“He works with me, Your Honour, So I would take him with me,” he said.

A decision on bail will be delivered by Mr Lawrence on Monday afternoon.

Under questioning by Mr Hill, Constable Curran confirmed that police had no evidence Mr Yaffe had ever stepped foot in Mr Ganiev’s property.

The court was told police allege Ms Bell was murdered at Mr Ganiev’s St Kilda East apartment just before 1am on October 7 after staying there the past two nights.

Her last known contact, it is alleged, was with a friend through Snapchat shortly after midnight that night, where she said she’d met the “best Russian sugar daddy” and he was “lavishing her with gifts”.

Constable Curran told the court it was alleged CCTV captured her enter for the last time at 9.27pm on October 5 and she is “never seen to leave again”.

He said the CCTV footage allegedly captures a fight, with Ms Bell observed falling to the ground after being struck.

Police allege over the following days Mr Ganiev was recorded cleaning the apartment before Mr Yaffe arrived towing a new black fridge on a trailer on October 9.

Constable Curran told the court that Mr Yaffe had an overnight trip planned on November 9 but returned after receiving a call from Mr Ganiev.

The fridge was allegedly carried by the two men into the backyard of his apartment and eight days later the old fridge was removed, wrapped in plastic and black tape.

Police allege Ms Bell’s remains were inside the fridge.

Over the following days the trailer was allegedly moved to three locations around Melbourne allegedly associated with Mr Yaffe, with one person later telling police it had a “foul smell” and was attracting flies.

Constable Curran told the court that at the first location, Mr Yaffe was seen washing the trailer and items and spraying deodoriser.

He told the court that police allege it was not possible that Mr Yaffe did not believe the fridge contained Ms Bell’s body.

“At the time it had been 10 days since she had died … Its not a smell that can be mistaken or forgotten,” he said.

Mr Yaffe allegedly met police and was interviewed on October 28, denying knowing what happened to Ms Bell and stating he had dropped off a new fridge and assisted Mr Ganiev to dump the old one on a verge pick-up.

But police allege he was photographed later the same day meeting Mr Ganiev and placing a bag, believed to belong to Ms Bell due to its distinctive brown and black pattern, into a bin from his car.

It’s alleged Mr Ganiev hid the fridge in a Hino removalist van on October 30, which a resident allegedly located and opened on November 18.

A bag fell out and the man believed it contained animal remains, which he placed into a residential bin, police allege.

According to the summary, Mr Ganiev allegedly claimed he did not kill Ms Bell but used the fridge to transport her remains after she died at his home through unknown causes.

The summary alleges Mr Yaffe told police he helped deliver a new fridge to Mr Ganiev and assisted him to dump the old one 300m from his home on a kerbside pick-up without knowing the contents.

The two men, Constable Curran told the court, had been in contact which each other multiple times a day over the relevant period.

Mr Ganiev was remanded into custody on a charge of murder during a brief court appearance on Wednesday. Mr Yaffe will return to court on Monday afternoon where a decision on bail is expected to be delivered.