Salt Creek backpacker assault trial: Evidence resumes on day 3
UPDATED: The first police officer on the scene at Salt Creek has told a court she “had never seen anyone so covered in blood” as one of the alleged victims.
- Day one: “Get out of here, he’s going to kill us all”
- Day two: Jurors visit isolated, treacherous terrain
A BACKPACKER allegedly hit four times with a hammer by a man charged over the Salt Creek attacks was “covered in blood from head to toe”, one of the police officers first on the scene has told a court.
The trial for the man charged over the attacks resumed on Tuesday, with the Supreme Court jury hearing evidence from Senior Constable Natasha Parsons.
The court heard she was present when the German woman, one of two alleged victims, was brought back from the beach.
“She was covered in blood from head to toe. She had a towel around her head, there was just blood everywhere,” she told the court.
“I had never seen anyone so covered in blood in all my time.”
The man, 60, whose identity is suppressed, has pleaded not guilty to one count each of aggravated kidnapping, indecent assault and causing harm with intent to do so.
He has further denied counts of attempted murder, aggravated causing serious harm with intent to do so, endangering life and aggravated assault.
Prosecutors allege that, on February 9 last year, he attacked two backpackers — one Brazilian, the other German — at an isolated spot on the Coorong.
The duo had travelled to the spot with the man as part of a ride-share to Melbourne that had been arranged online.
Prosecutors allege the Brazilian’s clothes were cut from her body with a knife before she was bound and sexually assaulted.
They further allege the German was struck four times in the head with a hammer and repeatedly “mowed down” by the man’s vehicle.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Senior Constable Parsons said she had arrived at Salt Creek from her station at Meningie in time to see the German brought back from the beach.
“She had a towel around her head, she did have clothing on but there was just blood everywhere,” she said.
“I’ve always described her as having an altered state of consciousness ... I said to her ‘my name is Natasha, I’m here to help you’ and she said ‘thank you’.
“She seemed really childlike to me, there was very little conversation from her.”
Sen-Cst Parsons said she was fearful of inspecting the woman’s injuries because there was blood soaking through the towel.
“A detective asked me if I could take the towel off to look but there was that much blood, it was still pouring from under the towel, there was no way I was going to take it off,” she said.
“Her hair was matted with blood.”
She said she decided to leave the German in the care of the staff of the Salt Creek roadhouse, believing she needed to act quickly to find the Brazilian and the accused man.
She said that, as she crossed the salt pan, she came across the Brazilian and the group of men who had found her, naked and screaming, in the sand dunes.
“She was extremely distressed, she was crying and was quite worked up,” she said.
Sen-Cst Parsons then continued on to the beach and arrested the man, becoming concerned there may have been “a burial site” when she saw blood on his shovel.
However, there was not.
Jurors also heard from a crime scene investigator who said he located blood on the bull bar and front headlight of the accused man’s four-wheel drive.
The investigator said he also found blood on a backpack belonging to one of the women, but not on two pairs of sunglasses that were recovered.
Salt Creek roadhouse owner Adam Stewart told jurors he had called Sen-Cst Parsons after having himself received a call from fishermen on the beach.
Those men, who prosecutors allege rescued the women, had been given bumper stickers with the roadhouse’s phone number by Mr Stewart.
“My line usually is ‘if you get in the s--t, ring this number’ ... on a (panic) scale of one to ten, they were a 15,” he said.
“I was (then) aware there was a pretty bad guy on the beach.”
He also helped the German woman upon her arrival at the roadhouse.
“I told her she was safe, and that her girlfriend was safe and that we had ambulances on the way,” he said.
“She had a small, covered-in-blood little face wrapped in bloody cloth and towels ... dark eyes, covered in blood and in shock.
“But she was sort of smiling (because of) the fact she was safe.”
The trial, before Justice Trish Kelly and a jury of eight men and four women, continues.