Liberty's parents tell of night of anguish

The heartbroken parents of slain schoolgirl Liberty Templeman have described a night of anguish, desperately trying to find out why their daughter was not responding to their text messages on the night she went missing.

Rebecca and Andrew Templeman took the stand separately yesterday as they gave evidence in the High Court at Whangarei on the second day of the trial of the teenaged boy alleged to have killed Liberty.

The boy, who cannot be named because of court suppression orders, sat in the rear of the courtroom, his face turned slightly to one side, his eyes darting back and forth.

Mr Templeman arrived in Kerikeri from Auckland at 1am on November 2, 2008, after it became clear that none of her friends had seen her.

He searched for her throughout the night, with help from locals and police. Within two days, he was called to Auckland to identify his daughter's body.

Mr Templeman told the court his daughter, known as Libby, had just had "one of the best years of her life".

When asked about his relationship with his daughter, his voice cracked with emotion.

"She was my little girl," he said.

"She'd be walking along the street with some of her friends in Kerikeri and if she saw me she would throw her bag on the floor or give it to one of her friends and just come and give me a hug in the middle of High St."

Mrs Templeman said she had a close and open relationship with Libby, which involved "constant" text messages.

"She would text me when she was at school - she wasn't supposed to but she did - and that was just to say: 'Hello, how are you?' And I would text her back, and hope her volume was down," she said.

Mrs Templeman said by 8pm on November 1 she was quite anxious and called Libby but the call diverted to voicemail.

She phoned Libby's friends, including the boy accused of murdering her daughter. By 10.15pm, she called the police.

Mrs Templeman described the phonecall in which she spoke to the boy - whom the Crown alleges had four hours earlier murdered Libby.

She said he told her he left Libby at Kerikeri College about 6.30pm or 7pm and that he remembered the timing because he had received a phonecall.

She said she called the boy back later the next morning because she was confused about the timing.

"I wanted to know where that half hour went."