AUSTRALIA: An itinerant fruit picker accused of starting an Australian hostel fire that killed 15 young backpackers, including Irishwoman Julie O'Keeffe (24), pleaded not guilty yesterday to charges of murder and arson.
Mr Robert Long (38) entered his pleas at the start of the trial, which follows a night-time blaze that tore through the 100-year-old wooden Palace Backpackers Hostel in Childers, north of the Queensland capital Brisbane, on June 23rd, 2000.
Justice Peter Jutney, presiding, dismissed the jury until tomorrow to allow for two days of legal arguments which cannot be reported as they do not form part of the evidence in the trial.
Mr Long has only been charged with starting the fire and two specimen murder charges for the deaths of West Australian twins, Kelly and Stacey Slarke.
He has not been charged with the other deaths, including one Irish national, six Britons, two other Australians, two Dutch travellers, a South Korean and a Japanese national because he already faces a maximum life sentence if convicted.
The prosecutor, Mr David Meredith, said he would call 169 witnesses, including Mr Long's former wife and fire survivors from Britain, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Denmark, the US and India.
Media from around the world attended the start of the trial.
Before dismissing the jury, Justice Jutney urged them to ignore anything they may have heard about the case.
The trial, which was transferred from the provincial town of Bundaberg to Brisbane on concerns about bias after locals were quoted as saying he should be "tied to a stake and burned alive", begins as Childers starts bulldozing the hostel's remains.
The site, around 300 km north of Brisbane, will be turned into a memorial, an art gallery and a plaza leading to a new 120-bed hostel for young travellers.
The memorial will feature paintings of the 15 victims.
Mr Bill Trevor, the mayor of Isis Shire, which includes Childers, said the start of the trial was a moment of "mixed emotions" for the 2,000 or so residents of the Victorian-era township.
"All these types of processes bring back a lot of memories and a lot of pain," Mr Trevor said yesterday.
Mr Trevor said he had been in touch with some of the relatives of the victims and had been told that they were considering turning up at some point during the trial.