Falconio murder trial opens to packed courtroom

Joanne Lees told the court how she met boyfriend Peter Falconio. Picture / Reuters

DARWIN - The man accused of killing Peter Falconio was a drug-runner whose DNA was found on homemade handcuffs used to tie up Falconio's girlfriend, Joanne Lees, a court has been told.

DNA consistent with that of Bradley John Murdoch was also found on a smudge of blood on the back of Lees' T-shirt, and on the gear stick of the couple's orange Kombi van, prosecutor Rex Wild told jurors.

Opening the case against Murdoch in the Northern Territory Supreme Court yesterday, Wild also alleged the 47-year-old Broome mechanic was in the business of running drugs from South Australia to Broome at the time of Falconio's murder. He was in business with a New Zealand man, James Hepi, who will give evidence in the trial.

"The business they were involved in was the transport of cannabis from South Australia to Broome, where it was sold," Wild said.

"Both Mr Hepi and Mr Murdoch drove vehicles ... between South Australia and Broome."

Wild said Murdoch "used different routes" in the 3400km journey, and "preferred to avoid contact with the police".

On the opening day of what is expected to be a two-month trial, Murdoch formally pleaded not guilty to murdering the 28-year-old tourist on a dark and lonely outback highway in central Australia in July 2001.

He also denied two other charges - depriving Lees of her liberty and unlawfully assaulting her.

The high-profile trial began amid tight security and huge interest, with members of the public and foreign and national journalists packing into two courtrooms to hear the case.

Lees took the stand late in the day, explaining how she met Falconio at a nightclub in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in 1996, began living with him the following year, and then embarked on a world trip with him in 2000.

She explained how she had a fling in Sydney with a friend called Nick without Falconio's knowledge, and how she and Falconio smoked marijuana together as they watched a sunset on the evening he died.

Referring to the man identified only as Nick, she said: "He was a good friend and we became close and we were intimate at one time.

"We were just friends and we overstepped the boundary of friendship but that ended and we became friends again."

Lees, now 32, will continue giving evidence today.

Earlier Wild, the NT director of public prosecutions, told the court the circumstantial evidence in the case would lead the jury "to the inescapable conclusion" that Murdoch was the offender.

Falconio's father, Luciano, and brother, Paul, both testified they had not heard from Peter Falconio since the alleged murder, as they "definitely" would have if he was still alive.

The prosecution alleges Falconio was shot after being pulled over by a stranger as he and Lees drove north from Alice Springs on July 14, 2001.

Lees was bound with black cable ties and tape, punched in the side of the face and forced into the man's vehicle at gunpoint.

However, she managed to flee and sheltered in darkness for five hours before flagging down a passing truck for help.

Wild said a forensic scientist later unwound the cable ties and tape "and deep within this tape found a very significant thing".

"Within the layers of the tape there's a DNA profile ... which exactly matches that of Mr Murdoch."

The trial continues today.

- AAP