'We've got some sheila here all tied up' - Outback truck driver
“Rod, we’ve got some sheila out here all bloody tied up – want to come down and give us a hand?”
Those were the words of truck driver Vincent Millar after Joanne Lees ran from scrubland in front of his road train in the remote Northern Territory Outback three years ago.
Lees had been hiding in the bushes after earlier escaping the man who allegedly killed her boyfriend, British backpacker Peter Falconio, Darwin Magistrates Court has been told.
Facing the committal hearing, accused of killing 28-year-old Falconio, is Bradley John Murdoch, 45.
Truck drivers Millar and Rodney Adams today told how their midnight run between Darwin and Adelaide was suddenly interrupted when Lees ran in front of their truck.
Seemingly out of place in the high-tech courtroom, the pair lifted the mood during an otherwise sombre hearing.
Despite the serious nature of their evidence, the drivers’ Outback charm raised a laugh in the packed public gallery on more than one occasion.
“I have worn thongs for 38 years,” Adams said at one stage, explaining how he drives barefoot on his long hauls.
“I always leave them on the side, so I drive barefoot and put thongs (on) to get out of the truck.”
Earlier, Millar told the court he feared he had hit the woman with his 40 metre road train after she jumped out from the bushes.
He swore loudly, waking up his companion Adams.
“I swerved to miss her but I thought she went under, I thought she probably had gone under the second or third trailer,” he said in his broad Australian accent.
“I was looking for a body, whether it was an arm or a leg or her clothes.
“I got down to the end of the second trailer ... (and) heard this clip clop coming down the road and some lady saying, help, help.”
Millar said he was unsure about what was happening when Lees threw herself at him, happy he had stopped.
The pair then helped free Lees from homemade handcuffs and duct tape, before driving around to look for Falconio.
“Then she started talking about how this bloke had a gun,” he said.
“I just said ‘what the bloody hell are we doing out here driving around the bush looking for a man with a gun?’.
“I turned around and said ‘we’re going’.”
The trio then drove to Barrow Creek hotel, where they alerted police.
The hearing continues.
