Daniel Morcombe murder: Ex-wife of accused murderer Brett Peter Cowan testifies in Brisbane Supreme Court

Updated

The ex-wife of the man accused of killing Daniel Morcombe has told his murder trial about the day the Queensland schoolboy went missing.

Tracey Moncrieff told Brisbane's Supreme Court that she married Brett Peter Cowan in September 1999 but they separated in 2004 and their divorce was finalised in 2008.

Cowan, 44, is accused of abducting and killing the 13-year-old on the Sunshine Coast in 2003.

Ms Moncrieff said on December 7, 2003, the day Daniel disappeared, she attended a church service and returned home to make lunch for herself and Cowan after settling their baby son.

She says Cowan left their Beerwah home about 1:00pm to retrieve a mulcher from a friend at Nambour.

Ms Moncrieff told the court she did not see Cowan return, but heard him outside using the machine about 3:00pm.

Cowan has pleaded not guilty to murder, indecent treatment of a child and interfering with a corpse.

Meanwhile, the media has been able to publish photos of Cowan for the first time after they were tendered in evidence on Thursday.

Cop tells of interviewing Cowan after Morcombe vanish

Former policeman Kenneth King told the court he interviewed Cowan two weeks after Daniel vanished.

He said the conversation had been recorded, but was lost.

Mr King said Cowan confirmed he had driven past the overpass on December 7, but had not seen any cars or people.

He said Cowan told him he had left home about 1:30pm and arrived home 2:30pm to 2:45pm that day.

Detective Sergeant Gavin Pascoe told the court today he received information from a fellow officer on August 10, 2011.

Later that night, Detective Pascoe and a colleague drove to the Kiel Mountain Road overpass at Woombye, the site of Daniel's disappearance.

He said the pair drove from the overpass and stopped at Kings Road at the Glass House Mountains, where Cowan allegedly told undercover police he murdered Daniel.

The court heard the pair then drove to the home of Cowan's drug dealer at Beerwah and then Cowan's former home nearby.

Detective Pascoe said they did two alternative routes and timed them on a stopwatch on his mobile phone.

The court heard the times ranged from 14 minutes and 29 seconds to 30 minutes and one second..

Witness bursts into tears in court

Earlier, driver Toni Lutherborrow told the court she saw a blue car on Eudlo Road and something under a white sheet rise up.

Ms Lutherborrow burst into tears as she recalled a man in the front seat turn around and punch the sheet.

Motorist Wayne John Baker was the first witness to testify at Thursday's proceedings.

He told the court he saw a boy near the Kiel Mountain overpass on the day Daniel disappeared.

Mr Baker said he saw a blue car on the opposite side of the road with two men near it.

During cross-examination by Cowan's lawyer, Mr Baker said the vehicle matched the description in news reports of a blue vehicle found abandoned weeks later in a Brisbane car park.

Driver Kim Guthrie told the court she saw a person pulling a boy wearing a red shirt towards a blue car.

Witness Kim North gave similar testimony today about a boy and a vehicle.

She also said she saw a person with both hands on a boy's arm trying to coerce him into the car while another person sat in the rear seat.

Ms North said she wanted to pull over but could not find a spot and could not remember the car's number plate.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard from a bus driver who admitted to ignoring a boy's attempts to hail him because he was running late.

There were also varying accounts from witnesses about seeing a boy and a man on Nambour Connection Road.

Some witnesses told the court they saw an "unkempt" and "gaunt" man standing behind a boy, while others described seeing a blue sedan parked nearby.

Justice Atkinson told the jury last week that although there was a substantial number of witnesses to appear, not all of them were expected to be questioned at length.

At the beginning of the trial, jurors were also told they would visit the site where the schoolboy disappeared.

Jurors will also walk through a macadamia farm in the Glass House Mountains where police found Daniel's remains eight years later.

Police prosecutors claim Cowan led undercover officers to the site after allegedly confessing to abducting and killing the schoolboy.

Daniel's parents Bruce and Denise Morcombe were the first to testify last week.

Topics: courts-and-trials, murder-and-manslaughter, brisbane-4000, woombye-4559, maroochydore-4558

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