NORFOLK ISLAND - DNA found on the boot lid of New Zealander Glenn McNeill's car was 10 billion times more likely to have come from murder victim Janelle Patton than from a random female, a Norfolk Island court has been told.
New Zealand DNA expert Susan Vintiner
gave the evidence today in the island's Supreme Court, where McNeill is accused of Ms Patton's March 2002 murder.
McNeill told police he put the 29-year-old in the boot of his Honda Civic after inadvertently running her over, the jury has heard.
He allegedly stabbed her to death before dumping her body in a picnic spot, where it was found by tourists later that day.
The 29-year-old New Zealand chef has pleaded not guilty to the murder charge.
Ms Vintiner, a forensic biologist at New Zealand's institute of Environmental Science and Research, carried out DNA tests on samples swabbed from the underside of the Honda Civic's boot lid.
She told the McNeill's trial that the majority of one sample contained female DNA mixed with a smaller component of male DNA, which did not belong to the accused.
But Ms Patton, or another individual who shared the same DNA profile, could be the source of the female DNA, Ms Vintiner said.
She told the court she considered two alternatives when testing the female DNA profile against the New Zealand database - either it came from Ms Patton, or from an unrelated female chosen randomly from the population.
Obtaining the results she did was "10 billion times more likely if the female DNA in this sample originated from Ms Patton", Ms Vintiner said.
This was a "conservative" estimate, she added.
Ms Vintiner could not say when the DNA was deposited, or whether it had come from blood, skin cells or other bodily fluids.
The trial continues.
- AAP
