CHANNEL Nine lost a Supreme Court appeal today to have a suppression order on details of the case of missing backpacker Peter Falconio lifted. The Full Bench of the NT Supreme Court today ruled Magistrate Alasdair McGregor had the power to make the order banning from publication some details of the case.
Mr Bradley John Murdoch, 45, is charged with murdering Falconio and the alleged, unlawful assault and deprivation of liberty of Falconio's then girlfriend Joanne Lees on July 14, 2001.
However, Nine had a minor victory, with the court quashing two smaller suppression orders relating to the publication of Mr Murdoch's photo and details of where he was arrested.
Magistrate McGregor last week banned the publication of several sections of the prosecution's opening address in order to ensure Mr Murdoch would receive a fair hearing should the case proceed to jury trial.
The sections relate to four strands of, alleged, evidence - that the defence may challenge at trial - which allegedly link Mr Murdoch to the killing.
Mr Murdoch's committal hearing is now expected to resume in Darwin Magistrates Court.
Lees, who took to the witness stand a week ago, is midway through her testimony about the night her boyfriend of six years disappeared.
Justice David Angel said the Supreme Court decided Mr McGregor had power under section 58 of the Evidence Act to make the other suppression orders.
While the ban on publishing photographs of Mr Murdoch was lifted, the court had been told earlier that any publication of the image was still a contempt of court given identification was an issue in the committal.
The court ordered that Nine pay the other parties' costs of the hearings.
Extensive legal argument over what the media can publish has stalled the committal hearing into the alleged murder of 28-year-old of Mr Falconio for a week.
Lees, who is now expected to resume her testimony this morning, has arrived at court under heavy police guard, hidden under a piece of black material in the back of a car.
Australia to see the light on tourism
And the Australian ruling class will lock up and frame-up, for 'life', anyone for a crime against any 'backpacker or holiday maker from overseas' no matter whether they were 'guilty or not' and no matter whether they 'found any dead bodies' or whether they found any 'weapon that killed a tourist' and even if there is only 'flawed circumstantial evidence' and 'trial by media' to prove their case. The inbound and domestic tourism industry contributes $70 billion to the economy and employs 500,000.
By Just Us 26 May 04
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Bradley Murdoch the man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio who has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court.
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The man alleged to have murdered English tourist Peter Falconio has been acquitted of rape and abduction charges in the South Australian District Court. Bradley John Murdoch, 45, was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of indecent assault after an alleged incident in South Australia's Riverland in August last year.
