Girlfriend in Outback Murder Trial 'Hid Like a Rabbit'
Telegraph.co.uk
____________
Darwin (Australia):
The girlfriend of a British backpacker shot dead in the Australian Outback curled up "like a rabbit" and hid in the bush for five hours to escape his killer, a court has heard.
Peter Falconio was killed while travelling with girlfriend Joanne Lees in a camper van north of Alice Springs, on July 14, 2001.
Bradley John Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denied murder at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin.
After stopping their van when another driver indicated there was a problem with its exhaust, the young couple were attacked, the director of public prosecutors, Rex Wild QC, told the court.Mr Falconio went to the back of the van to check when his girlfriend heard the sound of an engine backfiring, or a gunshot.
______________________________________________
See Also:
Court hears Falconio girl's story
Scotsman, UK
Man on trial for Falconio outback murder
Guardian Unlimited, UK
DNA links Australian to outback murder-prosecutor
Reuters.uk, UK
'Bound and hooded' woman hid for five hours to escape 'killer'
Times Online, UK
_______________________________________________
Looking through the window she saw the man holding a Western-style revolver to her boyfriend's head.
The court heard she later asked Murdoch if he had shot her boyfriend, and he had said No.
Miss Lees, who had her hands tied behind her back with cable ties and duck tape, escaped from under a loose canopy on the back of a truck and hid in the bush for five hours before being rescued.
Mr Wild said Ms Lees was "determined to survive", alone with her hands tied painfully behind her back, a sack over her head and loose tape around her feet in the back of the vehicle, covered by the canopy.
She slid off the back of the vehicle and ran straight into the bush while the defendant was "busy with some other activity".
She waited five hours before jumping out in front of a large truck, with her hands still tied.
Murdoch has also pleaded not guilty to charges of depriving Ms Lees, now 32, of her personal liberty and of unlawfully assaulting her in aggravating circumstances, so that she suffered bodily harm and was threatened with a gun.
The body of Mr Falconio, 28, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, has never been recovered.
Oct 17, 2005
Telegraph.co.uk
____________
Darwin (Australia):
The girlfriend of a British backpacker shot dead in the Australian Outback curled up "like a rabbit" and hid in the bush for five hours to escape his killer, a court has heard.
Peter Falconio was killed while travelling with girlfriend Joanne Lees in a camper van north of Alice Springs, on July 14, 2001.
Bradley John Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denied murder at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin.
After stopping their van when another driver indicated there was a problem with its exhaust, the young couple were attacked, the director of public prosecutors, Rex Wild QC, told the court.Mr Falconio went to the back of the van to check when his girlfriend heard the sound of an engine backfiring, or a gunshot.
______________________________________________
See Also:
Court hears Falconio girl's story
Scotsman, UK
Man on trial for Falconio outback murder
Guardian Unlimited, UK
DNA links Australian to outback murder-prosecutor
Reuters.uk, UK
'Bound and hooded' woman hid for five hours to escape 'killer'
Times Online, UK
_______________________________________________
Looking through the window she saw the man holding a Western-style revolver to her boyfriend's head.
The court heard she later asked Murdoch if he had shot her boyfriend, and he had said No.
Miss Lees, who had her hands tied behind her back with cable ties and duck tape, escaped from under a loose canopy on the back of a truck and hid in the bush for five hours before being rescued.
Mr Wild said Ms Lees was "determined to survive", alone with her hands tied painfully behind her back, a sack over her head and loose tape around her feet in the back of the vehicle, covered by the canopy.
She slid off the back of the vehicle and ran straight into the bush while the defendant was "busy with some other activity".
She waited five hours before jumping out in front of a large truck, with her hands still tied.
Murdoch has also pleaded not guilty to charges of depriving Ms Lees, now 32, of her personal liberty and of unlawfully assaulting her in aggravating circumstances, so that she suffered bodily harm and was threatened with a gun.
The body of Mr Falconio, 28, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, has never been recovered.
Oct 17, 2005
