More evidence from outback Briton

Outback kidnap victim Joanne Lees today described her terror as she was attacked by the man who moments earlier had shot her boyfriend Peter Falconio.

The dramatic testimony came as she gave evidence in court for the first time, standing only feet from the drifter she accuses of murder.

She claims mechanic Bradley John Murdoch killed her boyfriend then bound, beat and tried to kidnap her at gunpoint on an isolated stretch of highway.

Choking back tears and coughing constantly, Ms Lees said that moments after he had shot Mr Falconio, Murdoch opened the van door and climbed in, pushing her into the passenger seat.

"He was to the side of me and beside me. He seemed to be all over me and around me," she said.

He then ordered her to put her head on her knees and put her hands behind her back, she said.

Prosecutor Rex Wild asked her: "Did you do what he said?" Ms Lees replied: "I went to - and then I tried to struggle and fight. "He repeated the question again and pointed the gun to my head. I did what I was told and put my hands down behind my back."

She then described how the man tied her hands together loosely with some kind of electrical ties about 10cm apart to allow her some movement.

She was pushed from the camper van and fell onto the roadside gravel, injuring her knees and eventually lying flat on her stomach.

As the attacker tried to tape her ankles together, she kicked and struggled with him: "He was straddlingmy waist with one leg either side of me. I kicked. I was trying to hit him or punch him in the crotch.

"My hands were behind my back, but I could raise them up.

"He came round the front and hit me on the right side of my head," Ms Lees said, pointing to her temple. "A punch. It stunned me."

The man pulled her up and grabbed the back of her neck and shoulder and frog-marched her over to his utility truck.

After unsuccessfully trying to gag her mouth with tape, the man lifted up the canopy covering the back of his truck and pulled out a canvas sack, which he placed over her head.

He then bundled her into the front of his vehicle.

She told the court: "I was shouting for Pete. I was shouting for help." Mr Wild asked: "Did you ever see Peter again?" Ms Lees replied, choking with emotion: "No."

The former travel agent, now working with people with learning difficulties, had told how she and her partner of six years had bought the VW van in Sydney for a trip around Australia in the summer of 2001.

They had spent 14 July at Alice Springs and were driving north.

Mr Falconio was driving as they headed in the direction of Darwin.

"Pete had just had a sleep and he was fresh," said Ms Lees, adding that they had no set plan about where they would stop for the night. As they drove past Barrow Creek, a white four-wheel drive vehicle which had been following them suddenly drove up alongside their van.

"Pete commented, 'I wish the driver would overtake us.' I started looking round to see what he was talking about... I saw the man and his dog beside him in the passenger seat.

"The man was looking across into our vehicle. He was pointing towards the back of the vehicle. He was wearing a black baseball cap, a black tshirt or dark shirt with a check shirt, long sleeve, over the top."

When the man pointed to the rear of their vehicle, Ms Lees, 30, recalled: "He [Mr Falconio] told me he was going to stop. We discussed it. I asked him not to."

However, her boyfriend did stop. "He got out to investigate," she told the court. "Pete went to the back of our vehicle to look at the exhaust."

She saw the stranger standing next to him in the road: "He was bending over. I could not see what he was doing."

Mr Falconio then asked her to move over into the driver's seat to rev the engine. The last time she saw her boyfriend alive was when he came to the driver's side door to get his cigarettes.

"He asked me to rev the engine and went back to the back of the van." Moments later, she heard a loud bang. The van's engine was still running.

"I heard a bang - like the sound of a vehicle back firing; the sound of a gun shot. I turned around to look over the window and I saw a man stood there with a gun.

"He was pointing it towards me. He opened the door and started coming into the van." Mr Wild asked: "How far into the van?" Ms Lees replied: "All the way. He pushed me into the passenger seat. He asked me to turn the engine off. I tried but my hands were shaky, so he did it."

After he started to manhandle her Ms Lees managed to escape into nearby pitch-black bushland.

She hid for seven hours before flagging down a container truck and being driven to Barrow Creek.

The body of Mr Falconio, 28, has never been found.

Before giving evidence Ms Lees walked within feet of Murdoch, who has always denied having anything to do with the killing.

Murdoch, 48, from Broome, Western Australia, is charged with the murder of Mr Falconio, aggravated assault on Ms Lees, in that he allegedly threatened her with a gun, and kidnapping her at Barrow Creek on July 14 2001. At this committal stage, Murdoch is not required to enter a plea.

Also in court were two of Mr Falconio's three brothers, Paul and Nick Falconio.