Liberty's friends tell of hours before death

Liberty Templeman's body was found on November 2, 2008. Photo / Supplied

More details of the final movements of slain schoolgirl Liberty Templeman have emerged at the trial of the teenager accused of killing her.

Several youths appeared on the stand on the fourth day of the trial this morning, telling the jury of six men and six women about their contact with Liberty, 15, in the hours before she died.

The youths' names, and those of her alleged killer, who is now 16, are suppressed.

The promising drama student was found dead in a stream on the outskirts of Kerikeri on November 2, 2008, 19 hours after she was reported missing to police.

One witness, 16, who was a friend of Liberty's told the court she had been hanging out and swimming with the accused boy and some friends at a river before she went to a barbecue.

She ran into Liberty outside the barbecue.

The youths separately told the court that Liberty had been sitting on the handlebars of the accused boy's bicycle as he "doubled" her into town where they met other friends.

The girl told the court a bottle of the soft drink Mirinda went into the accused boy's bag.

The teenagers had parted ways soon after their trip to the local New World, at about 6pm.

She said she first heard that Liberty was missing when another friend arrived at her house a few hours later.

She went with the boy and his father to hunt for Liberty, and the teenagers and their parents began sending text messages and phoning one another to try and find her.

The next day, posters were distributed, asking if anyone had seen Liberty and the teenagers went to a gala at the primary school where announcements were put over a loud speaker every 20 minutes, asking if anyone had seen her.

Another witness, a 16-year-old boy told the court the accused boy helped the group look for Liberty and went to the gala with them.

Under cross-examination, the boy's defence lawyer Catherine Cull asked the teenagers if they had heard rumours that Liberty had been stabbed. They said they had.

Police allege the boy, who is charged with murder and indecent assault, hit Liberty, strangled her, then dragged her to a creek where he left her to drown. They allege he removed some of her clothing to make it appear that someone had sexually attacked her.

The trial before Justice Raynor Asher is expected to take two weeks.