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A Waitotara woman today described seeing a hitchhiker get into a four-wheel-drive vehicle the Crown says was driven by the man accused of murdering German backpacker Birgit Brauer.
Michael Scott Wallace, 46, is on trial in the High Court at New Plymouth for the murder of the 28-year-old tourist, whose beaten and stabbed body was found at Lucy's Gully, near Oakura, southwest of New Plymouth on September 20, 2005.
The crown say Wallace -- who was drifting around the country in a Toyota Hilux, often taking drugs -- picked Ms Brauer up from Waitotara as she hitchhiked between Wanganui and New Plymouth, then drove her to Lucy's Gully and killed her.
Waitotara resident Gail Welch told the court that from her house she can see the intersection where the crown say Wallace picked up the tourist, 110m away.
She said she saw a hitchhiker at the intersection while sitting at her table doing the crossword. About ten minutes later she saw her throw her bag into the back of a dull, square four-wheel-drive then get in the front passenger seat.
When Mrs Welch was shown CCTV footage from the main street of Waverley, north of Waitotara, she identified the vehicle the Crown says Wallace was driving as the one she saw the hitchhiker get into.
The Crown say the same vehicle was later dumped in the Ohau River near Levin, but when shown a close-up of the dumped vehicle during cross-examination by defence counsel Susan Hughes QC, Mrs Welch said it was not the one she saw.
Earlier today the court was told Ms Brauer felt safe hitchhiking in New Zealand.
Caryl Blomkvist, a lawyer, said Ms Brauer had stayed on her farm for two weeks before her death.
She talked to Ms Brauer about how hitchhiking could be dangerous, but the tourist said she'd had good experiences hitching rides in New Zealand and felt safe.
On the day Ms Brauer died, Mrs Blomkvist dropped her off on the main road between Wanganui and New Plymouth. She said to Ms Brauer, "you've had the lecture about hitchhiking haven't you?".
The young woman laughed and said she would be all right, then promised to phone that night to say she was safe.
She never did, and two days later the Blomkvists identified her body at the Taranaki Hospital mortuary.
Mrs Blomkvist said Ms Brauer had planned to leave the farm a day earlier, on September 19, but because of heavy rain stayed another night. The weather was worse on September 20 and Mrs Blomkvist invited her to stay but the tourist said it was time to move on.
The trial before Justice Mark Cooper and a jury of eight women and four men is expected to last four to five weeks. A total of 82 witnesses will give evidence, including two by live video link from the United States and the United Kingdom.
- NZPA
