Leisl Smith Wiki
Leisl Smith Biography
Who was Leisl Smith?
Leisl Smith’s body has never been found, but her car was found abandoned at Tuggerah railway station more than a month after she disappeared.
James Scott Church, 51, has pleaded not guilty in the NSW High Court to the murder of 23-year-old Leisl Smith who disappeared on August 19, 2012.
Continuing the crown’s opening speech at the judge’s trial alone on Tuesday, prosecutor Kate Ratcliffe alleged that Church picked up Ms. Smith from the station in her white van after meeting her on August 19.
Two days earlier, she “drove to remote locations” to locate a site to dispose of the body of the woman he planned to kill, Ratcliffe alleged.
Her claims to several people, including Church’s partner, Belinda Lees, that she was pregnant with his child “fueled her motive to kill her” as well as her desire to save her new relationship, she said. .
Ms Lees believed that Ms Smith was fantasizing about being pregnant, while other people were skeptical of the claim, Ms Ratcliffe said.
Ms. Lees would give evidence of receiving messages from Ms. Smith and meeting her three times when she made accusations about Church.
They included that she had kicked her dog, was an alcoholic and had been violent with a former partner.
Ms Smith also allegedly said that she was suing Church to the Australian Quarter Horse Association for failing to register a filly.
The prosecutor said that Ms. Lees would testify that after Church reassured her, he came to believe that Ms. Smith was “a crackpot” and dismissed her claims.
But she would say that everything that happened with Ms. Smith had “upset her and stressed the relationship”.
She said that she constantly feared that something would be done to her animals in retaliation.
The prosecutor’s opening will be followed by a speech by Church’s attorney on Wednesday before Judge Elizabeth Fullerton begins hearing evidence.
Source: WikiSoon
