Brian called his first witness. It was Marty White, a tall, greying policeman who did scale drawings of various locations. Brian used Marty to present diagrams of different locations so the jury could refer to them during the trial. He presented and explained the scale drawings he made of the Kelvin home, the route to the bus stop, plans of the inside of the homes of witnesses, plans of von Einem’s home and of all the locations that were going to be talked about during the trial. The opening address and tendering of documents and plans completed the first day.
The next day the court did not sit inside the Sir Samuel Way Building but moved to the various locations that were to be talked about during the trial. The jury was looked after by Sheriff’s Officers who worked at the court, while the judge and his staff travelled in their own vehicles, as did Brian Martin and Paul Rofe. Trevor and I drove a police car. Traffic policemen stopped traffic to help keep the group together when it was moving to view different locations at O’Connell Street and Ward Street, North Adelaide.
The jury took copies of the maps and plans with them to compare the documents with the actual locations. Brian Martin continued to point out various features at the different locations. We stood outside the Kelvin home and walked where Richard and his mate Boris walked on the evening Richard disappeared. We travelled to von Einem’s Paradise home, stopped and went inside. We drove past the Alcorn’s property at Lower Hermitage where Thora von Einem stayed with her cousin on weekends before moving onto the airstrip where Richard was found. It is one thing to present photographs and drawings to a jury but if they can see the actual locations mentioned during the trial then the jury’s understanding is much greater. The viewing of various locations doesn’t happen in every trial, however, as the Sheriff’s officers have to arrange security and transport and often police have to be present to stop traffic. Obviously, it’s time consuming and costly.
At von Einem’s home I showed the judge, prosecution and defence the ledge behind the mirror in von Einem’s bedroom. Interestingly, the bedroom cupboards had been moved around in the bedroom and were against opposite walls. Perhaps von Einem or his defence team were trying to trip us up so that we would give confusing evidence in front of the jury. If the defence could show that we were uncertain about the location of cupboards in the bedroom, then they could cast doubt on the rest of our evidence. The jury followed afterwards because there was insufficient room for everyone in the room at one time. A sheriff’s officer pointed out the ledge to the jury.
After the drive to various sites and addresses, Brian Martin introduced the first of the next thirty-five witnesses to the court. When he needed a break, Paul Rofe introduced new witnesses.
The second and third witnesses in the trial were Rob and Betteanne Kelvin. They provided two corner pieces to the jigsaw of evidence that was about to unfold. Both of them talked about their son. Rob Kelvin was first. He took the stand and gave positive evidence about his son, just as you would expect, but he didn’t paint the picture that he was perfect. Brian Martin didn’t ask the direct question about whether or not their son was ‘normal’. Brian just asked his questions and the answers from Rob and Betteanne showed Richard was a normal fifteen-year-old.
‘Yes, he was having trouble at school.’
‘He had trouble with spelling and numbers and some students at Adelaide High School had picked on him. He was asked to repeat a year, which didn’t help his self-esteem.’
‘The learning difficulties encouraged them to place him at an alternative school — Marbury in the Adelaide Hills. He was much happier.’
‘He smoked.’ Rob Kelvin didn’t like it but Betteanne smoked and she was less demanding.
‘Yes, he had tried alcohol but he wasn’t a drinker.’
Rob stressed that Richard never hitchhiked or accepted rides from strangers and he didn’t like to be out and about at night. Betteanne Kelvin told the jury how she would meet him at the bus stop in Melbourne Street after school cadets at Hampstead Army Barracks in the northern suburbs on Friday nights. Richard wanted her to meet him because he didn’t want to walk home in the dark.
His mate, Karl ‘Boris’ Brooks, who was Richard’s last friend to see him, told a story to the court which reinforced what Rob and Betteanne were saying. Boris said that on the Sunday night Richard disappeared, he started to walk toward the bus stop near the Womens and Childrens Hospital on King William Road. However, Richard didn’t want to go that way because it was dark and they had to cross some parklands. Richard wanted to go to the bus stop in O’Connell Street, North Adelaide instead. That is the reason why they went to the O’Connell Street bus stop.
The evidence of these witnesses powerfully indicated that Richard was not going to get into a car with a stranger.
Brian Martin also knew that he had to show that Richard was against homosexuality. Von Einem, in his alibi, was saying that Richard had gone with him voluntarily. He was suggesting Richard had homosexual tendencies and Brian wanted to show this was not the case. He asked Rob Kelvin about his son’s views on homosexuality. Rob told the court that his son didn’t like homosexuals and if he wanted to stir someone he would call them a ‘poofter’. He used the word in a derogatory way.
Rob and Betteanne both told the court that Richard always had a girlfriend and Betteanne said he was so serious about his current one that Richard talked to his mother about getting engaged when they were nineteen. Richard’s girlfriend, the girl he was supposed to have rung as soon as he got home from the bus stop, gave similar
