Ex-inmate claims Dieter Pfennig confessed to killing Louise Bell while ‘stoned and sobbing’ in jail

ALLEGED murderer Dieter Pfennig was “stoned and sobbing” when he confessed, in prison, to abducting Louise Bell and then killing her “by mistake” a court has heard.

ALLEGED murderer Dieter Pfennig was “stoned and sobbing” when he confessed, in prison, to abducting Louise Bell and then killing her “by mistake” a court has heard.

The Supreme Court was told on Wednesday how Pfennig’s boast that his pet budgie would “s--t on command” led to what prosecutors claim was a key breakthrough in the 30-year-old mystery.

A former Mount Gambier Prison inmate, whose identity is suppressed, said he went into Pfennig’s cottage on Christmas Day 2004 to see the bird perform its trick.

He said the pair then smoked cannabis but that Pfennig — serving a life sentence for the murder of Michael Black — “quickly went weird”.

“He became really emotional, he was just sobbing ... the more (cannabis) he had, the worse he got,” he said.

“He was talking about Michael Black first ... I assumed (police) had found Michael and I asked him about that.

“Then he said he couldn’t say anything to anybody about it because there was ‘someone else there’ ... I asked who and he said ‘a chick’, I asked ‘which chick?’ and he said ‘Bell’.

“There was no other name, just ‘Bell’ ... he said ‘I did it, I took her’, then he said he killed her and that it had been an accident.”

Pfennig, 67, has pleaded not guilty to having abducted Louise, 10, from her Hackham West home on January 4, 1983, and murdering her sometime before March 1 that year.

Prosecutors have alleged a police re-enactment of the abduction proves Louise would have been taken from her bedroom in just 30 seconds.

Louise’s body has never been found, but her pyjama top was located by a neighbour who also received a phone call from the abductor, claiming the girl was “happy with them”.

Pfennig is already serving a life sentence for the 1989 murder of Michael Black, 10 — prosecutors claim he has said Michael and Louise are buried together.

Last week, Pfennig failed in his bid to have the trial adjourned for six months so he could mount a $250,000 challenge to key DNA evidence.

On Wednesday, the former inmate said he and Pfennig had served time in the same prison before but, prior to that Christmas, had not interacted.

He said their conversation followed a session of drinking, cannabis smoking and “shooting up” drugs within the prison to which guards had turned a blind eye.

“We were drinking bourbon that (convicted fraudster) Dennis Telford had brought into the jail, and another prisoner had made his own alcohol,” he said.

“Everyone was drunk that day, it was pretty fun actually ... as long as there was no real trouble and nobody went up to the bosses (guards) and complained, they didn’t care.”

The former inmate said he went to Pfennig’s room in the prison cottages at the urging of another prisoner.

“A conversation came up about Dieter’s budgie being able to s--t on command ... (the other prisoner) said ‘go show him’ so I followed Dieter to his room,” he said.

“Sure enough, the bird s--t on command ... Dieter would say something to it, then it had a s--t, and he gave it a treat.”

He said Pfennig became emotional soon after smoking the first of five cones of cannabis from a homemade pipe and started talking “out of the blue” about Michael Black.

“He was saying what happened with Michael, how he had met Michael and had a conversation with him, and he and Michael had left where Michael was on the riverbank,” he said.

“He said they had left (Michael’s) dog there.”

The former inmate said Pfennig spoke about Louise Bell, and used his computer to show a street map of her home and his former house in Hackham West.

“He explained how she was taken out the window ... he said she went with him willingly,” he said.

“Then he said he took an item of clothing back to a house, and neatly folded it ... I asked him why he did that and he said because he felt guilty.”

The former inmate said he knew little about Louise Bell prior to the conversation and “more to the point, I didn’t care”.

“Not to sound heartless, but it’s nothing to do with me,” he said.

“I just thought he was big-noting himself, you know what I mean?”

The former inmate said that, after his release on parole, he read a Sunday Mail article about Louise’s disappearance and decided to contact police.

He said he had not been offered an inducement to give evidence, and had no outstanding or pending criminal charges.

In cross-examination, Grant Algie, QC, for Pfennig, questioned the former inmate’s reliability as a witness, based on his criminal history.

“When you are in a position of weakness, you will make false allegations and threats against others,” he said.

“When you feel yourself not being noticed, you will do and say things to make yourself the centre of attention.”

The former inmate refuted those suggestions.

“I don’t make threats, I carry them out for starters,” he said.

The trial, before Acting Justice Michael David, continues.