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A defence witness claims to have seen slain German hitchhiker Birgit Brauer on the beach near New Plymouth at a time police say she was already dead and her alleged killer had fled the scene.
Richard Baird of Oakura yesterday told the High Court at New Plymouth that he saw a woman matching Miss Brauer's description at the township, mid-afternoon on September 20, 2005.
"She was walking towards the entrance to the motor camp, then she stopped, admired the view, looked towards the mountain, then back towards Back Beach, then continued walking on towards the motor camp."
Mr Baird described the woman as being in her mid-20s, with a "slim to medium build". He said her hair was "shoulder length and dark in colour".
Mr Baird said his son - who usually arrived home from school between 3.30pm and 4pm - turned up about 45 minutes after he sighted the woman.
Police say Miss Brauer's alleged killer, Michael Scott Wallace, was many kilometres away at Cardiff, near Stratford, at the time.
Mr Baird recognised the woman "a couple of days later" when he saw a picture of Miss Brauer in the local Taranaki Daily News.
"Her face was similar, but the clothing was different. I believed it was the same person," he told Wallace's lawyer, Patrick Mooney, yesterday. He also told the court he had seen a Toyota Surf parked near where the mystery woman was standing, but he did not see her getting in or out of the vehicle.
Mr Baird, who claimed to have watched the alleged Miss Brauer from a vantage point "20 metres from actual sand itself", said the woman was wearing dark boots, blue denim jeans and a blue parka or pullover.
He said he took the woman he saw at Oakura to be a tourist, who looked happy.
"She had on hiking boots and she looked like a tourist. I hadn't seen her before and she looked new to the area."
He told the court he watched her as she disappeared down the beach, and never saw her again.
Wallace is accused of murdering Miss Brauer at nearby Lucys Gully that day, three to four hours after picking her up at Waitotara, north of Wanganui. He denies the charge.
Prosecutors concluded their case yesterday morning with evidence from detectives who spoke with Wallace immediately after his arrest on October 8, 2005. He had allegedly been driving around the North Island, using drugs heavily, and was longing for death by the time he was apprehended, at Levin.
Detective Ross Wright told the court of his dealings with Wallace while waiting to return to New Plymouth.
He said "a considerable silence" followed the moment police first put an accusation of murder to Wallace. However, the accused came out of his shell after returning from a cigarette break at the Levin police station.
He allegedly told Mr Wright, and Detective Sergeant Debra Gower, that he had "crossed a few boundaries to do what I did, because I haven't understood what I have been doing for two months".
Mr Wright said Wallace told them that "four times in the past two months" he had tried to "end things in my own way, but that didn't work". Wallace also lamented the fact police had not shot him dead when he was arrested, Mr Wright told the court, quoting from notes of his interview.
"They should have just shot me tonight. I couldn't run any more. I would have been better off being shot ... There's been too much drugs."
Mr Wright said police told Wallace to "release the burden" by telling them what had happened to Miss Brauer.
Wallace, however, said he would like to, "but I just don't know".
"I would rather die than have hurt someone ... I don't want to muck you around. I don't know what is real and what isn't."
