The judge hearing the murder case of 10-year-old Louise Bell has familiarised himself with the house from which she was taken more than 30 years ago.
Supreme Court Justice Michael David, together with the prosecution and defence lawyers and reporters and cameramen, have visited several crucial sites related to the case in Adelaide's southern suburbs.
Louise was taken on the night of January 4, 1983, from the front bedroom of the yellow brick house in Hackham West.
Dieter Pfennig, 67, has pleaded not guilty to murdering the girl but prosecutors allege he made admissions to fellow prisoners while in jail for other crimes.
After visiting the house on Meadow Way on Tuesday, the group weaved through a series of lanes to another important location less than a kilometre away.
"This was the accused's house at the time of the abduction of Louise Bell," prosecutor Sandi McDonald told the group.
The court was also taken to a house where the pyjama top Louise was wearing on the night she disappeared was found neatly folded.
DNA tests recently allegedly linked Pfennig to the top.
Prosecutors say traces of algae on the top show it had been submerged in the Onkaparinga River, where Pfennig regularly went canoeing.
Justice David, who is sitting without a jury, visited the river, which passes through the tall green hills of Old Noarlunga.
His group crossed a rickety wooden suspension bridge and climbed to higher ground to get a better view of the landscape.
Pfennig was not originally a person of interest in the Bell case but was charged in 2013 after a comprehensive review was conducted and DNA samples were tested in Australia and the Netherlands.
The Crown said while Louise's body has never been found, it is not possible she could still be alive.
Share
