'My drug fuelled drive across the desert with murder accused'

A WOMAN who says she spent a drug-fuelled night travelling across the Nullarbor with Bradley John Murdoch yesterday told a Darwin court he had also tried to sell her a gun.

Julie Anne McPhail told the Supreme Court she was driving from Perth to Adelaide on June 19, 2001, when she met Murdoch at a service station sometime after dark.

She said Murdoch agreed to drive in front of her because his headlights were better.

"I said I was going to Adelaide and so was he, so we arranged to meet down the road," she said.

Asked why they made that arrangement, Ms McPhail replied: "So we could have a drink and a line of speed."

Prosecutor Rex Wild, QC, said: "Do you see that man here today?"

"Yes, it's Brad, Brad Murdoch," she replied, nodding towards the dock.

Ms McPhail, who described Murdoch as being "a very tall man, wiry and quite lean, with a moustache", said the pair stopped "every hour" to smoke joints and take speed.

Murdoch has pleaded not guilty to killing Peter Falconio by the Stuart Highway on July 14, 2001.

He also has denied assaulting Mr Falconio's girlfriend Joanne Lees and depriving her of her liberty.

Ms McPhail said she and Murdoch slept for four or five hours -- her in a swag, him in the back of his ute.

They separated as they crossed the border at Ceduna but arranged to meet on the other side.

Ms McPhail said she saw Murdoch's car by the side of the road near the start of the "Iron Triangle", about two hours from the border.

"I went to the passenger side and he pulled out a small gun and offered it for sale," Ms McPhail said.

"It was a palm-size, small revolver."

Ms McPhail said she had told Murdoch she was looking for a "lady's pistol" with a pearl handle but the gun Murdoch showed her was not the right one.

Murdoch fired the gun into the bush and offered her a go, but she "wasn't comfortable" with that and left, the witness said.

Under cross-examination, Ms McPhail admitted being a heavy drinker at the time.

But she denied defence lawyer Grant Algie's suggestion her story about the gun was "rubbish".

"I'm not making this up," she said. "You can go and look for the bullet if you like because I saw him fire it off."

In other evidence yesterday, a former drug-running colleague of Murdoch's told the court Murdoch sometimes kept a gun in the driver's side of his car.

Brian Johnston said he transported marijuana from South Australia to Broome with Murdoch in February, March and May 2001.

Asked whether Murdoch carried a gun, Mr Johnston replied: "Sometimes he concealed (a gun) in a shute in the fuel tank or ... the driver's side door."

"But it wasn't silver, was it?" Mr Wild asked.

"No," Mr Johnston replied.

The trial continues today.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Thur, 24 November 2005
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Author: Rebecca Hewett
Copyright: 2005 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://ntnews.news.com.au/