Murdered backpacker’s girlfriend ‘positive’ of attacker’s identity
Joanne Lees was giving evidence for the third day when the jury was shown a police video of her pointing to a photograph of the man charged with attacking her and killing Peter Falconio, 28, on an Australian highway on July 14, 2001.
Bradley Murdoch, 47, of Broome, Western Australia, denies murder, depriving Miss Lees of her personal liberty and unlawfully assaulting her in aggravating circumstances at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin.
Ms Lees was shown 12 passport-style photographs of men and, within a minute, pointed to one of them and told police: “I think it’s number 10.”
The judge, Chief Justice Brian Martin, asked her how sure she was that the man she identified was her attacker. She said: “I was very positive.”
The footage was taken by officers at Hove police station on November 18, 2002, of an interview between Ms Lees, Detective Inspector Phil Warner from Sussex Police and two female detectives.
Ms Lees told the court that when she was shown a CCTV image of a man at a truck stop at Alice Springs by police, she had said he was “too old” to be her attacker. Asked if she had a different view now, she said: “Yes, that is the man who attacked me.”
Asked why she changed her mind, she said: “The police were able to show me a better quality picture.”
The court heard that on October 10, 2002, while she was working in Sicily, a friend told her to look at a story on the BBC News website which contained a report on the case and a picture of a man.
She said: “I didn’t really study the photograph of the man for long. I just knew that it was him.”
Later, the judge asked how she felt when she was hiding in the bush.
Fighting back tears, Miss Lees said: “I was frightened. I was ... concerned about Pete, thinking he’s so close but I couldn’t leave my hiding place to get to be with him.”
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