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Lees expected to face cross examination

Wednesday Oct 19 02:31 AEST

Joanne Lees is expected to face cross examination on Wednesday in the trial into the disappearance and presumed murder of her boyfriend Peter Falconio.

Broome mechanic Bradley John Murdoch, 47, is on trial in the Northern Territory Supreme Court, charged with the murder of the 28-year-old Briton and with unlawfully assaulting Ms Lees, and depriving her of her liberty.

He has pleaded not guilty to all three charges.

Ms Lees has already spent more than a day in the witness box, detailing the night her boyfriend Mr. Falconio disappeared beside an outback highway in July 2001.

She told the jury the couple had been driving their orange Kombi north along the Stuart Highway, near Barrow Creek, when a man signaled for them to pull over.

Mr. Falconio was talking to the man at the rear of the Kombi when Ms Lees said she heard a loud bang, before a gunman appeared at her front seat window.

She told the court she thought she was going to die after the man - who she identified in court as Murdoch - bound her wrists and forced her into his car.

However, she managed to escape out the rear of the vehicle, hiding in bushes for five hours until flagging down a passing road train.

Ms Lees will continue giving evidence for the prosecution, before defence lawyer Grant Algie begins his cross examination.

The trial is expected to run six to eight weeks.