Outback murder girl denies secret relationship

Defence lawyers in the Australian Outback hearing into the death of Briton Peter Falconio today attacked the credibility of Joanne Lees claiming she was having another, perhaps secret, relationship when her boyfriend disappeared three years ago.

Lees today returned to the witness stand in Darwin to resume evidence in the committal hearing for Bradley John Murdoch, 45, the man accused of the British tourist’s murder.

Calm and composed, Lees, from Brighton, was again asked to recount the events of the night in July 2001 when Falconio, her boyfriend of six years, disappeared beside a remote Northern Territory road.

Cross-examined for 90 minutes by Murdoch’s lawyer Grant Algie, Lees answered most questions with one word.

Occasionally her composure faltered as she replied with a curt “yes” to some of the questions.

Algie asked Lees several times about her relationship with the missing 28-year-old backpacker, and she replied that the couple had got on well together.

However, he later accused Lees of having a second secret e-mail account while touring Australia, and of writing to someone who had a fake name “Steph“.

Lees denied the e-mail account was secret and said she did not know who Steph was, but then admitted Steph was a false name for a man she had e-mailed named Nick.

“Who is Nick?,” Algie asked.

“A friend,” she replied.

“A friend from Sydney with whom you had a relationship?” Algie asked.

“No,” Lees replied.

The questioning was halted after prosecutor Rex Wild, QC, successfully objected, questioning its relevance.

“The relationship as between this witness and Falconio is obviously relevant in this case,” Algie said.

“I have reason to believe there was another relationship, either known or unknown to Mr Falconio at the time.

“It may be highly relevant at the end of the day as to the credibility of this witness.”

But the most interesting evidence of the day may have been held in secret.

Magistrate Alasdair McGregor took the unusual step of closing the court to the public and media for about half an hour of Lees’ testimony.

“I’m concerned that if this evidence was able to be published then there could be a catastrophic consequence … for a fair trial within this small town,” McGregor said.

Earlier, Lees told the court she had enjoyed the five months she and Falconio, from Huddersfield, spent in Sydney in early 2001, and revealed she took half an Ecstasy tablet at one stage.

She was also asked about the marijuana she and Falconio smoked at Ti Tree as they watched the sunset hours before he was allegedly killed.

Lees said Falconio had obtained the drug in Sydney before they left on their driving trip around Australia.

“He didn’t hide it, it was just on the shelf (of the Kombi),” she said.

As the pair made their way north to Darwin, they came across bushfires on the side of the road.

Lees said the fires looked “unusual“, as if they had been deliberately lit.

“Pete wanted to stop and put the fire out,” Lees said.

“I said it could be a trap or a trick and asked him to drive on.”

A short time later, Lees would again urge Falconio not to stop when a stranger in a white four-wheel drive indicated for the pair to pull over.

But this time, the court has heard, the Briton stopped, a shot rang out and Lees said she never saw or heard from him again.

Earlier, Lees described her suspected attacker. “He was between 40 and 45. He had a long oval face. “He was wearing a black baseball cap. He had grey scruffy, straggly hair sticking out from under his cap. He had a moustache which was also grey.”

Lees told how staff at a hotel in the central Australian city of Alice Springs cared for her after she escaped the gunman who had allegedly threatened her, tied her up and dumped her in his pickup truck after apparently shooting Falconio.

“I couldn’t sleep,” Lees said of her time at the hotel. ”I was anxious and I was just waiting for the police to arrive so we could continue to search for Pete.”

She said that at the hotel, she spotted a dog, similar to the one her alleged attacker had in his van, straight away.

“I asked the girl who owned the dog what breed of dog it was because it… was the same breed of dog as the one the man had,” Lees said.

“She told me it was a blue heeler dog.”

Lees told the court a dog of the same breed was in the front seat of the man’s vehicle when he pushed her into his van.

Lees also described how she suffered injuries to her knees and wrists, after she was shown photographs of the wounds.

She said her knees were injured when the gunman pushed her to the ground, while her wrists were cut from handmade handcuffs.

Lees’ testimony had been expected to end last week, but legal wrangling prolonged it.

Media organisations had launched a court challenge to a magistrate’s so-called suppression order, which banned reports on parts of the prosecution’s opening statement because it could be read by potential jurors and then later be ruled inadmissible at trial.

The media challenge was rejected early today by the Northern Territory Supreme Court, allowing Lees to take the stand again for the hearing.

The pre-trial hearing continues.