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The man accused of murdering Janelle Patton told police he
played a video game after stabbing her with a fish filleting knife
and dumping the body at a Norfolk Island picnic spot, a court has
heard.
Glenn McNeill told detectives he had hit Patton with his car after
smoking cannabis and "thought he had gone too far to take her to
hospital", the territory's Supreme Court was told on
Wednesday.
The court was told McNeill confessed to leaving the 29-year-old's
body at Cockpit Waterfall Reserve, covered with a sheet of black
plastic.
Afterwards, he had driven past the police station on his way home,
where he had used a PlayStation video computer console to
relax.
The allegations emerged as the crown today outlined its case
against McNeill, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Patton on
March 31, 2002.
When police interviewed him about the Sydney woman's death, McNeill
said nobody else was involved, prosecutor Dan Howard SC told the
court.
"He told police he has not told anyone about the events of the day
and has kept it to himself ever since," Howard said, as relatives
of both Patton and McNeill looked on.
He also wrote a statement saying he was "sick and sad" about what
he had done, and had attempted suicide, Howard said.
According to the videotaped interview, which will be tendered as
evidence, McNeill said he bent down to pick up some smokes and hit
Patton as she walked along Rooty Hill Road.
He had smoked a joint that morning and panicked when he found her
under his car.
Thinking she was dead, he put her in the boot before driving back
to his flat at Little Cutters Corn, the court was told.
McNeill said he stabbed Patton "just to make sure she was dead",
Howard said.
However, he suggested McNeill may have forced Patton into his car
under threat of violence and that he had not been entirely truthful
with police about the circumstances of the stabbing.
McNeill allegedly said Patton was unconscious when he put her in
the boot, but he later heard her make "groaning noises".
"At that stage he was aware that Janelle was injured but alive,"
Howard said.
"He told police that he thought he had gone too far to take her to
hospital for treatment."
According to the interview, McNeill stabbed Patton three or four
times with a fish filleting knife he used in his work as a chef,
and which he threw into the ocean the next day.
She "resisted the attack and fought for her life, suffering
defensive injuries inflicted by the accused," Howard said.
The jury heard that the plastic covering Patton's body came from a
building site next to McNeill's flat and had his fingerprints on
it, while forensic and DNA material from his car also allegedly
linked him to the murder.
However, defence barrister Peter Garling SC said a "very different
picture" would emerge when all the evidence was put into
context.
The crown case offered no motive for murder and was complex and
flawed, while the case for McNeill was "simple and
straightforward", he said. "He is an innocent man who
is not guilty of this crime,"
Garling told the jury.
"He did not murder Janelle Patton and the Crown will not be able to
prove beyond a reasonable doubt ... that he did."
One juror was discharged because of illness on Wednesday, leaving a
jury of 11 residents to decide the case.
The trial continues on Thursday.
