Girlfriend confused in outback murder case

JOANNE Lees admitted yesterday she may have been wrong about exactly what happened to her when she and her boyfriend were allegedly attacked in the outback by Bradley Murdoch.

Ms Lees originally told police she was pushed from the front seat of Murdoch’s pickup truck into the back.

But giving evidence at Murdoch’s trial yesterday she said that she now believes she may have been forced “through the side of the cabin” rather than straight from the front seat into the back compartment.

Questioned by prosecutor Rex Wild QC, she said she could not be certain how she got from the front of the vehicle to under the canopy at the rear, despite saying in her original statement that she was pushed from the front to the back.

“That’s how I thought I got from the front to the back,” she said.

“He grabbed me and put me in the back.

“What’s caused me to doubt (how I got there) is that I wasn’t taken. I didn’t walk round the back of the vehicle.

“I perhaps presumed that because there was front to rear access in the kombi (camper van) that might have been how I got there (in the other vehicle).

“As I’ve had time to reflect on my initial statement, I remember landing on the rear of his vehicle on my stomach.

“It’s possible now he may have pushed me through the side of the cabin.”

The front of Murdoch’s truck was closed so it would not have been possible to push her directly into the back without taking her out of the vehicle first.

During her evidence, Ms Lees was also shown a series of images she helped an artist draw of her attacker and his vehicle.

Asked by Mr Wild about the labels and details of the illustrations, she denied that many were her recollection.