KEY POINTS:
German backpacker Birgit Brauer was warned of the dangers of hitchhiking barely a day before she allegedly accepted a ride with the man accused of her murder.
Solicitor Caryl Blomkvist today told the High Court at New Plymouth she had hosted Miss Brauer at her smallholding on the outskirts of Wanganui in the weeks before September 20, 2005.
That is the day police say Michael Scott Wallace murderd Miss Brauer after picking her up at Waitotara, north of Wanganui, as she was hitchhiking for New Plymouth.
Prosecutors allege Wallace took the 28 year old to Lucy's Gully southwest of New Plymouth, where he bashed her head in with an iron bar, then stabbed her through the heart.
Wallace, a 45-year-old firewood cutter, is denying a charge of murder.
Mrs Blomkvist told the court Miss Brauer had spent about two weeks at her farm as a participant in the Willing Workers on Organic Farms programme.
The scheme provides workers - "almost invariably" tourists - with free food and board in exchange for work, she said.
Mrs Blomkvist told Crown prosecutor Tim Brewer she had discussed hitchhiking with Miss Brauer.pe"I did talk to her about how it could be dangerous& she felt quite safe.
"She had done a lot of hitchhiking in New Zealand, and had had good experiences."
Miss Brauer said she had hitched "quite extensively" in the South Island, and insisted she would be safe, Mrs Blomkvist told the court.
She and her husband dropped Miss Brauer on Great North Rd - the main road from Wanganui to New Plymouth - on the morning of Septmber 20, 2005.
"(I) said 'You have had the lecture about hitchhiking, haven't you', and she laughed and said 'I will be alright'."
Miss Brauer promised to call that night to let them know she had arrived safely at a backpackers' hostel in New Plymouth.
As they drove off, they saw Miss Brauer climbing into a red farm utility belonging to Waitotara farmer Stuart Watson.
Mr Watson told the court he had driven Miss Brauer to Waitotara, dropping her on the main road, "between the township and the school".
Jacinda Stephens, a local farmer's wife, told the court she saw Miss Brauer on the roadside, apparently texting, later in the morning.
She said she had considered giving her a lift, but assumed she was waiting for a bus.
Mrs Blomkvist did not see Miss Brauer until she was taken to New Plymouth Hospital morgue to identify the body.
