A few weeks before my birthday, I tried to contact a friend of mine, Luna, to see if they wanted to come to the pub and the Planetarium. I hadn’t seen them in a long time, but they were part of our little Planetarium crowd, and I loved their company, so I really wanted them to join us. They didn’t respond to my first message, so I messaged them again, but still no response. I even sent a follow-up asking if it was still their number, and there was still nothing.
Luna was born female but identifies as non-binary. To be honest, they were my first introduction to that world. They’re 34 years old and feel like they belong to a completely different generation — which, I suppose, they do. I was worried, because it was unlike them not to respond to me, even though we hadn’t spoken in a long time. I mentioned it to a girlfriend of mine and said I was genuinely concerned, because Luna is the sort of person who feels things very intensely, and I hoped they were okay.
Luna identifies as a lesbian, and since I’ve known them — which has only been a couple of years — they’ve been in several polyamorous relationships. I know that sounds very modern and glamorous, but one night we were at the museum for Nightlab, which is when they hold after-hours parties. A woman Luna described as their girlfriend walked in with her boyfriend.
Luna already knew about the boyfriend — it was part of the polyamorous arrangement — but they were still upset by it. I wouldn’t like it myself. If I were ever with someone again, I would want them just for me.
I always thought Luna was so cool. They were involved with Extinction Rebellion, and I remember them telling me they were planning to glue themselves to the ground as part of a protest. I really encouraged it because I like disruptions like that.
Around the same time, I remember seeing Tom Koutsantonis on the news saying he’d be happy to talk to Extinction Rebellion protesters and have a meeting with them, but then he joked that the only problem would be that they’d glue themselves to a chair or something.
Anyway, Luna never got back to me and didn’t come to my party. My friend Hussein actually works at the same place as them — he’s in IT, and they work as an Aboriginal support worker. I was going to ask Hussein if he could discreetly check if Luna was still working there, but I hadn’t asked him yet.
Then, just now, I was looking at The Advertiser online and saw that Luna has been charged with attempted murder.
Part of me can’t believe it. I can’t believe that someone I know — someone I’ve shared parts of my life with, and someone I genuinely liked and respected — has been charged with attempting to take another person’s life.
But another part of me isn’t entirely surprised. I never thought they had a “killer instinct,” but they did sometimes do little things that made me pause. For example, one day we went to the Garden of Unearthly Delights during COVID, and there was a sheet where we had to write our names and contact details. Luna put down a fake name. I didn’t understand why — it was just a COVID form — but they explained that they had a fear of the government knowing everything about them.
They were also into recreational drugs, which is something I’m definitely not into and don’t like.
The thing is, I’ve seen parts of this story on the news, and I had no idea Luna was involved. So I’ll try to explain what seems to have happened. There’s a woman named Amelia Lee, now 43 years old, who worked as an academic editor. Amelia was in a relationship with a man named Reid Mitchell, who is now 36. After Amelia and Reid split up, she entered into a relationship with a man named James Semmler, who worked with her at her editing business. He is now 30 years old.
Luna is now 34, and at some point they were in a relationship with Amelia Lee. This could have potentially been one of their polyamorous scenarios.
It all started back in 2017, when it seems Amelia had broken up with Reid and was with James. It was first believed that they’d gotten into a fight and that James had been shot. Reid became a tetraplegic as a result of his injuries, and he was initially charged with attempted murder. He was acquitted at a trial in 2019. The case was later reopened when police came to believe that Reid may have actually been the victim.
Police are now alleging that in October 2017, Amelia and James attacked Reid with an axe in an attempt to murder him. They are also facing charges of conspiracy to murder Reid and his mother, Glenys Smith. While Reid was recovering from the axe attack at the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre, police allege that Luna attempted to smother him and that guards intervened.
Amelia was arrested on the island of Palau on November 15 last year. James was arrested in Brisbane on the same day, and Luna was arrested at Everard Park on November 24, also last year. They are all now facing charges of attempted murder and conspiracy to murder.
What that means is that if Luna did try to smother Reid, it would have happened before they ever met any of us. They would already have been carrying that with them. From their perspective, they might even feel that moments like this are when true friends would stand by them. But they clearly don’t want to be my friend anymore — I messaged them three times about my birthday and didn’t hear back. They are out on bail, so they could have responded if they wanted to.
I don’t automatically believe everything the prosecution puts forward — and I think it’s important not to — but I can’t say I was completely shocked to read that Luna was caught up in something like this. For me, it wasn’t about assuming guilt; it was recognising some of the chaotic elements of their life: the drugs, the intense emotions, the complicated polyamorous arrangements. And the whole situation being described in the media as a “crime of passion” makes a kind of sense within that context. The paper described Amelia’s alleged vendetta against Reid as bizarre, and I think that’s fair — the whole thing is deeply strange.
I read an article from last year in which the Director of Public Prosecutions, Martin Hinton, told the court that Luna had been manipulated by Amelia into going to the rehabilitation centre. The article mentioned text messages in which Luna allegedly discussed a plan to smother Reid, but I don’t know whether they actually went through with anything. From what was reported, it looks like they were at the rehab centre with a cushion or a pillow, but it’s unclear whether any physical attempt took place. I genuinely hope not.
The article also said there were discussions about taking Luna off medication so they could later claim insanity if they were caught — which suggests, at least from the prosecution’s perspective, that Luna may have had some kind of underlying mental health issue. It’s all so sad.
I just spoke to my friend Hussein, who used to work with Luna, and he said they finished up there some months ago. They’re going to lose everything. I’m worried about them. They obviously don’t want to talk to me for whatever reason — possibly even to protect me. I don’t know whether I should reach out, knowing what I’ve just read, or whether I should just leave it. I think I’m going to leave it.
But I did message another friend of mine who also knows Luna — not as well as I do, but they know them all the same. I asked if he would come to the trial with me, and he agreed. It probably won’t be until next year, but I want to see Luna for myself and make up my own mind about everything.
