She had earlier broken down twice as she was questioned about inconsistencies between what she had told police (and 60 Minutes) and evidence from other witnesses. Until she was found three weeks ago hiding in the home of her boyfriend, Scott Black, Miss Ryan had not been seen by her family since her mother dropped her at Rockhampton North High School in August 1998. Fraser had been charged with her murder and the murders of three other women.



School counsellor Ngari Bean told the court that in the week before she disappeared, Miss Ryan, then 14, was "distressed and upset" when she saw her because she could not face her mother with the news that she was six weeks pregnant to Mr Black. Miss Bean said Miss Ryan had earlier indicated she had been using drugs supplied by Mr Black. Miss Ryan's friends, Maioha Tokotaua and Ebony Loomans, gave evidence that Miss Ryan told them she had tested positive using a home pregnancy test kit.

Another woman, Natasha Heel, said she had spoken to Miss Ryan in the company of Fraser in a Rockhampton street four months before she disappeared and that Miss Ryan's eyes were bloodshot. As the Crown summed up its case on the three murder charges against Fraser, his counsel, Adrian Gundelach, said he would call only Miss Ryan who would give evidence that information given to police was false. Questioned by Mr Gundelach, Miss Ryan said she had never met or seen Fraser, and did not know Natasha Heel.

She did not recognise a choker which police claimed had belonged to her before Fraser gave it to a girlfriend. Under questioning by Mr Rutledge, Miss Ryan denied telling anyone she was pregnant or that she had planned to run away. She told the court she decided to do so only after a classroom altercation with a teacher.