Jurors see where teen died

Police officers stand guard as members of the jury are shown a location related to the case. Photo / Greg Bowker

The jury in the trial of the teenage boy accused of murdering former Kerikeri schoolgirl Liberty Templeman has visited the orchard where her body was found.

On day three of the trial in the High Court at Whangarei, the jury of six men and six women was taken by bus to Kerikeri yesterday.

They were led to a grassy knoll where police allege Liberty, 15, was attacked and rendered unconscious before being dragged away and left face down in a creek where she drowned.

The jury was also shown where two soft drink bottles, of Coca-Cola and Mirinda, were found in grass near Liberty's broken jewellery and blood.

Afterwards, they went to the boy's former home, where they were shown his bedroom window and a bush area where police claim to have found a plastic bag containing his shirt with blood on it.

The jurors were then escorted past a property where Liberty had been with friends shortly before she disappeared.

They were also driven past Kerikeri High School, where the boy said he last saw Liberty, and the New World supermarket, where both Liberty and the boy made separate trips to buy soft drinks.

The media were prevented from publicising the viewing of the scene because of fears that the high level of public interest would attract onlookers who could interfere with the jury.

Tributes to Liberty, including one from her parents, remain on the bridge near where her body was found on November 2, 2008.

Flowers and messages - most of them in Liberty's favourite colour, orange - were covered up by police with a blue tarpaulin to prevent the jury being emotionally influenced.

Back in court in Whangarei, more witnesses were called.

Detective Christopher Fouhy described the creek area where Liberty's body was found and discussed the areas shown to the jury.

A 16-year-old boy, who has name suppression, spoke of spending time with Liberty the afternoon she died.

Seated at the rear of the small courtroom, Liberty's father, Andrew Templeman, quietly broke down when the boy told the court he was a close friend of Liberty's.

But he smiled soon after when the boy told of borrowing a friend's cellphone to send Liberty a text message because he had run out of credit on his own phone.

The accused's parents sat quietly just two metres behind their son.

THE CASE

Former Kerikeri High School student Liberty Templeman, 15, was found dead in a stream in Kerikeri on Sunday, November 2, 2008, 19 hours after she was reported missing.

The accused: A 16-year-old boy, who was then aged 14, was arrested in Kerikeri on Friday, November 7, 2008. He cannot be named because of his age.

The charges:

Murder
The Crown says the boy attacked Liberty, striking her, strangling her and dragging her while she was unconscious, leaving her face down in a creek to drown.

Indecent assault
The Crown says the boy lifted Liberty's bra and pulled down her pants and underpants to make it appear someone else had attacked her.