Falconio murder detective 'did not plant evidence'
A police detective denied in court today a defence lawyer’s suggestion that he had planted evidence to incriminate a man charged with murdering British backpacker Peter Falconio in the Outback.
Under cross examination, Detective Sgt. David Chalker told the Northern Territory Supreme Court he did not put defendant Bradley Murdoch’s DNA on cable ties used to handcuff Briton Joanne Lees after her boyfriend Peter Falconio was shot in central Australia on July 14, 2001.
“I really find that quite offensive that you would suggest that, and no I did not,” Chalker told defence lawyer Grant Algie who asked if the DNA had been planted.
Murdoch, 47, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Falconio, 28, whose body has not been found, and assaulting and abducting Lees, then 27, after flagging down their campervan on a desert highway.
Algie said police had the chance to plant the DNA when they took the manacles to a meeting when he attempted to interrogate Murdoch in a prison in South Australia state in October 2002.
The trial continues.
