An aboriginal woman said she saw a "big white vehicle" pull on to a remote desert highway on the night a British backpacker disappeared more than four years ago.
Bradley Murdoch (47), of Broome, Western Australia, is on trial at the Northern Territory Supreme Court in Darwin, accused of murdering Peter Falconio after flagging down his camper van on a highway north of Barrow Creek, near Alice Springs, on July 14th, 2001.
Pamela Brown, from the small interior community of Ti Tree, said she saw the big vehicle pull on to the Stuart Highway on the same night Mr Falconio disappeared and his girlfriend Joanne Lees was attacked.
Mrs Brown said she knew the area well through hunting and told the court she then saw an orange camper van parked further along on the side of the road, with its lights off. She said she did not see anybody outside the van.
Questioned by Crown Prosecutor Anne Barnett on the fifth day of the trial, Mrs Brown said she was a passenger in a small station wagon that her partner, Jasper Haynes, was driving south when she saw the big white vehicle after they had passed through Tennant Creek, north of Barrow Creek.
Earlier this week, the court heard Miss Lees describe her attacker's car as a four-wheel-drive vehicle that was "bright and shining".
Mr Murdoch denies murdering Mr Falconio, and abducting and assaulting Miss Lees. The trial was adjourned until Monday.