"The prosecution's case is that the lone male is the one and same person and that that person is responsible for the abduction and murders of Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon."

Ms Barbagallo is summarising the encounters.

On one occasion, a woman said she left Albion Hotel in Cottesloe after breaking up with her boyfriend.

"Alone and emotional and with only $20 in her wallet, she went in search of a telephone box so she could call a taxi and return to her vehicle that was parked in Karrinyup," Ms Barbagallo said.

As she approached a block of flats on Stirling Highway she saw a lone male in a white van with no markings on it heading towards Cottesloe. He slowed down, drove past her then did a U-turn so he was on the same side of the road as her.

He asked if she wanted a lift and she accepted. The man told her he worked in telecommunications as an installation worker and he was heading to Cottesloe beach looking for "damsels in distress just like her".

He said he didn't like to see young women walking alone, and when she got out of the vehicle, he got out and tried to kiss her.

In another instance, just one day after Sarah was allegedly murdered, a woman had been waiting for a taxi outside a Hungry Jacks when a man pulled up to where she was standing.

He was driving a white square-type sedan with a Telstra logo on the door. He wound down the passenger window and stared at her.

She stood there and waited for the male to say something.

“She said to the male ‘what?’ and he still made no reply. He then drove away," Ms Barbagallo said.

In two other separate cases, two female witnesses accepted rides from a man broadly matching Mr Edwards' description, after believing he was a taxi driver.

They both said they felt so uncomfortable they found reasons to exit the car as quickly as possible.