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Bradley Edwards has elected not to offer a detailed defence to three charges of murdering Sarah Spiers, Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon — crimes that became known as the Claremont serial killings.
Key points:
- Bradley Edwards declined an offer to testify in his defence
- The trial will now resume in June to hear closing submissions
- Earlier a police video interview showed his reaction to DNA evidence
Edwards's legal team was expected to begin outlining their defence today, but instead they abruptly wrapped up the case.
This came after the prosecution finished their submissions, which comprised more than five months of evidence from more than 200 witnesses.
In contrast, the defence lawyers elected not to present any witnesses and Edwards also chose not to testify in his own defence.
The unexpectedly brief end to the main part of the trial came as defence counsel Paul Yovich SC said the only evidence he wished to cite was weather records for the City of Gosnells for 1996.
He did not call any fibre or DNA witnesses, as had been expected.
Edwards is charged with the 1996 and 1997 murders of Ms Spiers, Ms Rimmer and Ms Glennon, all of whom vanished late at night from the Claremont entertainment precinct in Perth's western suburbs.
The bodies of Ms Rimmer and Ms Glennon were found weeks after they disappeared, in bushland south and north of Perth, but Ms Spiers's remains have never been discovered.
'Brace yourself Bradley': Edwards stunned by DNA evidence
The final piece of evidence submitted by the prosecution was a video recording of Edwards's interview with police in the hours after his dramatic arrest at his Perth home in December 2016, which was played to the trial over the past two days.
In the last part of the recording played this morning, Edwards appears stunned when confronted with DNA evidence linking him to the Claremont crimes, along with brutal assaults on two Perth teenagers, his interview with police showed.
After several hours of questioning, Detective Senior Sergeant Joe Marrapodi is shown in the video presenting Edwards with the results of DNA comparisons conducted after he gave police hair and saliva samples.
"Brace yourself Bradley, I have some results," he is seen telling Edwards, before he informs him the DNA samples returned a "positive match".
Senior Sergeant Marrapodi then tells him his DNA was found on the 17-year-old victim of a violent abduction and rape at Karrakatta Cemetery in 1995.
"I'm struggling to explain that," Edwards says.
"I don't know what happened. I wasn't there. I didn't do any of this."
Edwards admitted the rape as well as the indecent assault of an 18-year-old in her bed at Huntingdale late last year, just before the start of his murder trial.
In the video, Edwards is then shown a photograph of Ms Glennon but denies knowing her, and Senior Sergeant Marrapodi tells him the DNA sample from the rape also matched DNA found on Ms Glennon.
Again, Edwards says he has no explanation, even after Senior Sergeant Marrapodi brings his stepdaughter into the conversation.
"Your daughter said your most prized virtue is your honesty, this is your chance to show that she's right," he says.
"I'm being honest," Edwards replies.
"Are you a man who accepts responsibility for his actions?" the detective asks.
"Yes I am," Edwards says.
"I accept responsibility for stuff I've done, not stuff I haven't done."
The courtroom was again packed for today's proceedings, with the families of Ms Glennon, Ms Rimmer and Ms Spiers in attendance, as well as the two women Edwards assaulted and his parents.
A number of people were again turned away because of limited seating in the public gallery due to coronavirus social distancing measures.
With both the prosecution and defence concluding their cases in the long-running trial, closing submissions are now expected to begin on June 8.
