Runner tells of finding backpacker's body

As Bryce Vickers approached Birgit Brauer's partly exposed body lying in bush at Lucys Gully he yelled out, hoping for a response.

When he was greeted with silence he reached out and prodded her with the tip of his foot.

"Then I touched her with the back of my right hand. [It was] just a rubbery sensation. It felt cold."

Realising he had discovered a dead body, Mr Vickers retreated to the road and went for help.

Police claim the man who dragged Ms Brauer into the bush was Michael Scott Wallace, a 44-year-old who yesterday appeared in the New Plymouth District Court for the second day of a depositions hearing.

Wallace is charged with murdering the 28-year-old German backpacker at Lucys Gully on September 20 last year.

Mr Vickers told the court he was running up a road that leads to the top of the gully at 4.50pm when he noticed some colour in the bush next to him.

He kept running but only got about 30m before noticing some distinctive drag marks.

"They began right on the edge of the seal and went down to the edge of the bush. I was still trying to make out the object in the bush but I carried on running."

On his way back down the hill Mr Vickers stopped at the drag marks and decided to investigate. He and his dog dropped down the bank into the bush.

"At about that point the dog became a little bit excited. He was on a lead so I picked him up and cradled him in my arms."

Mr Vickers followed the drag marks that had been made through the leaf litter, skirting around some tangled undergrowth.

"Once I came around the undergrowth I noticed what appeared to be a body ... It was very white and plastic looking.

"Just before I went right up to the body I yelled out to see if there was a response.

"I stepped closer and leaned out with the toe of my foot and pushed her on the exposed skin of the midriff. Then I touched her with the back of my right hand."

Mr Vickers returned to the road where he saw a young girl. He told her not to go any further and they went to her nearby house to call the police.

Detective Paul Barron arrived at Lucys Gully at 5.50pm to find Ms Bauer lying on her right side in the fetal position.

Blood was pooling around her head, her clothing was bunched around her head and her boots and socks had been removed. Her fly was down exposing her red underpants.

A nylon jacket was lying over her body, covering a stab wound under the left breast.

The court heard that markings on her jeans suggested Ms Brauer had been dragged through the bush, both face up and face down, to the area she was found.

The pathologist found Ms Brauer died from multiple injuries including skull fractures, brain damage and a stab wound to the heart.

Police say the head injuries were caused by a metal bar that was later found in a river at Cardiff, near Stratford.

Eltham resident Lyall Wooton said he saw a man, whom he identified in court as Wallace, standing next to a vehicle on a bush track next to the river in Cardiff about 2.30pm on the day Ms Brauer was murdered.

Former boss Brent Cleverley said he let Wallace use a Toyota Hilux vehicle for work but Wallace failed to turn up for work and never returned the vehicle.

Mr Cleverley said the iron bar found in the river was the same as one that was in the Hilux.

The depositions hearing is expected to finish next week.