Louise Bell murder trial: Schoolgirl ‘could have been snatched in 30 seconds through bedroom window’
LIVE COVERAGE: Video of a police re-enactment proving that Louise Bell could have been snatched from her bedroom by a tall man in just 30 seconds has been shown to a murder trial.
A POLICE re-enactment proved that Louise Bell could have been snatched from her bedroom by a tall man in just 30 seconds, a court has heard.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court trial of Dieter Pfennig also heard claims he had walked Louise home from school on at least six occasions a year prior to her disappearance.
On its fourth day, the trial heard evidence from retired SA Police Detective Senior Sergeant John Woite.
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He told the court he was involved in a police doorknock of Hackham West after Louise disappeared from her Meadow Way home on January 4, 1983.
He was also involved in collecting soil samples that prosecutors allege prove Louise’s recovered pyjama top had been immersed in the waters of the Onkaparinga River.
In his evidence, Det Sen Sgt Woite said police asked the owner of a business called Southern Screens to assist in a re-enactment of what was believed to have happened to Louise the night she vanished.
He said the owner’s daughter played the role of Louise while a senior sergeant “who was 6 foot 4” attempted to abduct her.
“He reached in, grabbed the child out, and she was gone in 30 seconds,” he said.
While a video recording of the 40-minute re-enactment exists, it has yet to be tendered in court.
Counsel for Pfennig asked for time to view it overnight, pending a possible objection to its admissibility.
Pfennig, 67, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Louise, 10, between January 4 and March 1, 1983.
Prosecutors have alleged he abducted Louise from her home and evaded arrest for decades until a “one in one billion” DNA match linked him to her torn pyjama top.
They claim he lived seven minutes’ walk from her home and liked to canoe on the Onkaparinga River — and that Louise’s top tested positive for trace elements from the river.
Pfennig, a former high school teacher, is serving a life sentence for the 1989 abduction and murder of Michael Black, 10.
A witness in the Louise Bell case claims Pfennig told him that her body rests in the same place as Michael’s, which has never been recovered.
On Thursday, the court heard from former Hackham West resident Angelina Hackett, who lived down the road from Pfennig and his family.
She said she saw Louise with Pfennig’s daughter, Petra, “more than once”.
“I would say it was on approximately six different occasions ... they were heading out from Hackham West Primary School and walking toward South Rd with Mr Pfennig,” she said.
Ms Hackett said Louise would walk with the pair for a time, then cross the road and head toward her home.
She said the memory had “stuck with” her because Pfennig had worn distinctive “pink flared trousers” at the time.
Grant Algie, QC, for Pfennig, suggested Ms Hackett was mistaken and had seen Pfennig’s other daughter, Erica, not Louise.
Ms Hackett replied: “No, I’m not mistaken ... I would have been very accurate that that was Louise Bell even if I had only seen it once.”
The trial continues.