SA court told Nikola Novakovich murdered Karen Williams in 1990 because she had witnessed robbery of a Coober Pedy opal miner
AN Outback town, a pretty young woman, mine shafts, an undercover police sting and a body that’s never been found — after 24 years, one of the state’s most mystifying cold cases has finally gone to trial.
COOBER Pedy teenager Karen Williams was murdered — either by firearm, or by rape and strangulation — almost 25 years ago because she witnessed a robbery, a court has heard.
In the Supreme Court today, prosecutors outlined their complex, decades-spanning case against Nikola Novakovich, who has denied any involvement in Ms Williams’ 1990 disappearance.
Jim Pearce, QC, told the court the case involved:
TESTIMONY from three of Miss Williams’ friends, who were the last people to see her alive.
EVIDENCE from a roadhouse employee who says she watched Novakovich drive Miss Williams out of town — and return without her in the car.
MULTIPLE police interviews with Novakovich, as well as the evidence he gave during a 1995 coronial inquest into Miss Williams’ disappearance.
AUDIO recordings made by a man who claims he helped Novakovich dispose of Miss Williams’ body — and then assisted police in an undercover sting operation.
Mr Pearce conceded, however, that the case lacked an element central to all murder cases.
“Miss Williams’ body has never been located,” he said.
“Since sunrise on August 4, 1990, there has been no confirmed or reliable sighting of her, no record of her accessing her bank account or availing herself of social security payments.
“From that moment on, none of her friends, family or acquaintances have heard or seen anything of her.
“In combination, those factors give rise to the overwhelming inference that she died sometime on that Saturday morning.”
Novakovich, 42, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Miss Williams at Coober Pedy on August 4, 1990.
Her disappearance has become one of South Australia’s most infamous cold cases, prompting repeated and intensive searches of mine shafts in and around the town.
Opening the trial, Mr Pearce said Miss Williams, 16, was a “polite, well-liked, co-operative, attractive and well-groomed” teenager who enjoyed socialising with friends.
He said much of that socialising was done at the Opal Inn and, when that hotel closed, both the nearby roadhouse and a restaurant called Sergio’s.
Mr Pearce said that, in 1990, Novakovich was 18 years old and worked at the bakery across the road from the Opal Inn.
He said their paths crossed when, after a night of socialising, Novakovich agreed to give Miss Williams and three of her friends a lift home in his stepmother’s orange Datsun 180B.
He said that when Novakovich dropped the friends off, Miss Williams refused to get out of the car and asked to be taken to her aunt’s house around the corner.
“From that moment on, her friends never saw or heard from her again,” he said.
“The last they ever saw of her was as she was being driven away by Novakovich.”
Mr Pearce said Miss Williams was last sighted several minutes later by roadhouse employee Claudette Noble.
The roadhouse, he said, was in the opposite direction from the house to which Miss Williams had wanted to be taken.
“Just before sunrise, Ms Noble saw a car pull into the service station ... Karen Williams was in the front passenger seat, Novakovich was driving,” he said.
“Novakovich got out, put some petrol in his car ... some time later he drove off, and Karen Williams was still sitting in the car.”
Mr Pearce said Ms Noble watched the car drive away and, by following its headlights, saw it turn onto the highway headed toward Port Augusta.
“An hour or so later, Ms Noble saw Novakovich’s car once more, travelling away from the highway,” he said.
“Novakovich was driving, there was no sign of Karen Williams.
“By that stage it was daylight and, on the prosecution case, Miss Williams was dead.”
Mr Pearce said Novakovich was repeatedly interviewed, between August 1990 and 2013, about Miss Williams.
Every time, he maintained he had dropped her off and had nothing to do with her disappearance — assertions he repeated when questioned at the coronial inquest.
Mr Pearce said the motive for Miss Williams’ murder did not come to light until 2013, when police spoke with former Coober Pedy resident Aleksander Radosavljevic.
He said Novakovich and Mr Radosavljevic had been friends, and that relationship “extended to committing crimes together”.
One of those crimes, he said, was the armed robbery of an opal miner just days before Miss Williams’ murder.
“Both had disguised themselves and covered their faces ... Mr Radosavljevic had a knife, Novakovich a gun,” he said.
“In the dead of the night, they kicked this man’s front door in, threatened him ... stole $1000 ... and escaped.”
Mr Pearce said Mr Radosavljevic would later tell police he had been approached by an “agitated” Novakovich in the wake of Miss Williams’ disappearance.
“He told Mr Radosavljevic that Karen Williams had seen them running away from the robbery, that she knew they had been up to no good and wanted a cut from the robbery,” he said.
“He told Mr Radosavljevic that he had shot her, that she was dead, that he did it to protect the two of them.”
Mr Pearce said Mr Radosavljevic had admitted accompanying Novakovich to a burnt-out car, on the outskirts of town, and helping dump Miss Williams’ body down a mine shaft.
Mr Radosavljevic had then left Coober Pedy, returning 23 years later to direct police in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to recover Miss Williams’ body.
Mr Pearce said Mr Radosavljevic participated in an undercover sting operation, calling Novakovich and renewing their acquaintance by claiming police were pursuing him.
He said the duo spoke on the phone several times and met publicly once, outside the Mt Gambier Hungry Jack’s outlet — but Novakovich had been wary.
“Novakovich told Mr Radosavljevic to say nothing ... he wanted to know if he ‘was wearing a wire’,” he said.
“Mr Radosavljevic said ‘I’ve kept this with me, mate’ and Novakovich replied ‘don’t, don’t, don’t even, don’t even mention it’.
“Novakovich said ‘they are on me, f--king real bad, right?’ and told him to keep his mouth shut.
“He said ‘as soon as you open your mouth, what are you going to think of, a lie to cover a lie to cover a lie?’ and ‘nine out of 10 times, what a person says convicts them’.”
“Novakovich said police had ‘no idea’ about him and ‘I’m a f--king bit smarter than that, mate, I might look like a goof but I’m a bit f--king smarter than that’.
“He told Mr Radosavljevic ‘you are going to bring us all undone’ and ‘if they find out you’re talking, that’s it, we are both f--ked’.”
Mr Pearce said it was not the first time Novakovich had discussed Miss Williams’ disappearance with another person.
He said that, in 1995, Novakovich was in an abusive relationship with a woman and, when he was called to give evidence at the coronial inquest, she questioned him.
“She made a comment to the effect of ‘is that how Karen felt?’ and Novakovich grabbed her by the throat, and said ‘this is how Karen felt when I did her’,” he said.
“Novakovich grabbed (the woman) by the wrists, threw her onto the bed and raped her, referring to her by the name ‘Karen’ and saying ‘Karen, you know you want it’.
“(The woman) asked if he had strangled and raped Karen, he said he did and threatened to kill her if she went to police.”
Marie Shaw, QC, for Novakovich, said the trial would be a complex one canvassing many legal issues.
She said prosecutors would have to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that Miss Williams was dead and had been murdered, not fallen victim to an accident.
“Prosecutors have to exclude an accident, knowing the nature of Coober Pedy itself and the many traps that exist there in relation to mine shafts,” she said.
Ms Shaw said she would also challenge the admissibility of Mr Radosavljevic’s evidence, given he had admitted to being an accomplice and therefore had a vested interest in helping police.
“At the time (of the sting), my client had exercised his right to silence ... this operation went behind that wall of silence, and that’s an issue,” she said.
“The police used somebody to tell lies, create a conversation and deliver lies to Mr Novakovich in order to entrap him.”
The trial, before Justice Tim Stanley and in the absence of a jury, continues.