Fresh produce scam ‘widespread’

Police raided Safari Place in Carabooda last week. Picture: WA Police. Source: Supplied

UP to a fifth of the fresh produce sold in WA supermarkets is produced using exploited workers or cash payments to avoid the taxman, industry sources say.

And an average WA family would pay up to $20 more a week for fresh fruit and vegetables if all workers were paid award wages.

The WA fruit and vegetable industry is under the microscope after a massive raid involving more than 500 officers and nine government departments on the Le family's Perth vegetable-growing empire in the past week.

Authorities questioned 240 suspected illegal workers, many living in squalid conditions and allegedly forced to work on farms in Perth's northern suburbs for little pay.

But industry sources say it is the tip of the iceberg, with many growers using exploited workers from Asia who work below the award wage because they have overstayed visas or so they can also claim government benefits.

Cash in hand is the "standard business model" for some producers to avoid tax and superannuation payments.

One source suggests up to 20 per cent of fresh produce in WA supermarkets involved illegal workers. Source: News Corp Australia

Vegetables WA former executive officer Jim Turley said it was well known many producers did business in cash.

And a whistleblower whose wife worked at one of Perth's biggest fruit producers – which supplies Coles – said the company had been "employing illegal workers on a massive scale for years".

Regional Labour Hire managing director David Moffat, who has been providing horticulture workers for more than a decade, said dodgy operators put immense pressure on legitimate growers. He said some workers were paid $12-$14 an hour – below the $28-$30 an hour employers must pay when payroll tax, superannuation and insurance are included.

A major WA lettuce grower estimated 20 per cent of the fresh produce in WA supermarkets came from farms using exploited workers.

"And that's a conservative estimate," he said.

Ben Darbyshire, chairman of FruitWest, said apple, stone fruit and citrus growers mainly used backpackers for harvesting and "there is no question of exploitation because there is an award they are paid to".

Independent Grocers Association WA president John Cummings said he was shocked to learn of the exploitation.

A Coles spokeswoman said the supermarket had an ethical sourcing policy requiring contractors not to use child or illegal labour and to pay staff "appropriate wages".

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MH370: FBI probe death threat

Family of missing Malaysian Airlines Captain Zaharie Shah from flight MH370 pay tribute to him. Courtesy: Chumguan Phoon/YouTube

SINCE Flight MH370 vanished, life hasn't been the same for one of the passengers' girlfriends whose been robbed, had a death threat and bizarre telephone calls.

Sarah Bajc has revealed she has also been robbed twice. But she, nor the FBI can explain how the series of frightening incidents are linked to her partner Philip Wood, who went missing on the Malaysia Airlines plane.

All she knows is that they started after the plane went missing, and who ever is behind the incidents has left her very upset.

Bajc told NBC News she got an instant message warning that "I'm going to come and kill you next" about two weeks after MH370 disappeared on March 8.

The phone calls came from a China-based number, and once an FBI agent assigned to help her and Wood's family was alerted to the strange calls, they stopped.

MH370: Conspiracy theories more mysterious than the missing plane

Targeted ... Sarah Bajc and her American boyfriend Philip Wood. Picture: Sarah Bajc/Facebook Source: Supplied

A number of pornographic images and phone calls were also received from the samephone number.

"It was just another straw on the camel's back, very upsetting," Bajc told NBC News.

Bajc claims the phone calls and messages started after her apartment was robbed for the first time, two weeks after MH370 officially went missing.

"Whoever came wasn't very careful because I'm a real neat freak, so it was immediately apparent to me that some things had been moved," she said.

Still missing ... Philip Wood, an IBM executive who was aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing. Source: Supplied

"My housekeeper was out of town so it couldn't have been her and I got home before my son got back.

The password on my safe had been reset which happens when you try the wrong code three times."

"The second time was a couple weeks later and my neighbour saw two people leaving my apartment. I have no illusions of privacy here [in Beijing]."

Bajc was preparing to move from Beijing to live with her partner, a 50-year-old IBM Malaysia employee.

A mini-sub hunting for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will be back in the search zone within days, an official said today, as the Australian ship carrying the device prepared to leave on the mission.

Australian vessel Ocean Shield is carrying the US Navy Bluefin-21 mini-sub which had been scouring the seabed for the plane until it docked to resupply early this week.

Ocean Shield was due to head backtoday to the remote area of the Indian Ocean where transmissions believed to have come from the plane's black box recorders were heard last month, a journey expected to take three days.

Once in the area, Ocean Shield will be able to deploy the Bluefin-21 to look for "any non-normal items, any metallic items", US Navy Captain Mark Matthews told the ABC.

"They'll either find something or they won't, that's about all I can box in, but what you do is you go look at your best indications and you pursue them until they're exhausted," he said.

Matthews said it was impossible to know for sure whether the signals picked up were from the plane's black box.

"It is certainly a man-made signal, but what it's from, I can't look at it and positively say, 'Hey that's an underwater locator beacon'," he said.

Extensive air and sea searches over vast stretches of the Indian Ocean have failed to find any sign of MH370 which mysteriously diverted from its Kuala Lumpur to Beijing route and is thought to have crashed far off Australia's west coast.

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Witnesses to describe ‘assaults’

Count 1

ROLF HARRIS between the 1st day of January 1968 and the 1st day of January 1970 indecently assaulted (victims name), a female person aged 7 or 8 years, by touching her inappropriately.

Count 2

ROLF HARRIS between the 1st day of January 1975 and the 1st day of January 1976 indecently assaulted (2nd victim), a female person aged 14 years, by rubbing her.

Count 3

ROLF HARRIS between the 31st day of December 1978 and the 4th day of April 1981

indecently assaulted (3rd victim), a female person aged between 12 and 15 years, by digitally penetrating her on an occasion other than in counts 4, 5 and 7.

Count 4

ROLF HARRIS between the 31st day of December 1978 and the 4th day of April 1981

indecently assaulted (3rd victim), a female person aged between 12 and 15 years, by digitally penetrating her, on an occasion other than in counts 3, 5 and 7.

Count 5

ROLF HARRIS between the 31st day of December 1978 and the 4th day of April 1981

indecently assaulted (3rd victim), a female person aged between 14 and 15 years, by digitally penetrating her, on an occasion other than in counts 3, 4 and 7.

Count 6

ROLF HARRIS between the 31st day of December 1978 and the 4th day of April 1981

indecently assaulted (3rd victim), a female person aged between 12 and 15 years,

by performing oral sex on her, on an occasion other than in count 8.

Count 7

ROLF HARRIS between the 31st day of December 1978 and the 4th day of April 1981

indecently assaulted (3rd victim), a female person aged between 12 and 15 years,

by digitally penetrating her, on an occasion other than in counts 3, 4 and 5.

Count 8

ROLF HARRIS between the 31st day of December 1978 and the 4th day of April 1981

indecently assaulted (3rd victim), a female person aged between 12 and 15 years, by performing oral sex on her, on an occasion other than in count 6.

Count 9

ROLF HARRIS between the 1st day of January 1984 and the 1st day of January 1985 indecently assaulted (3rd victim), a female person aged 19 years, by touching her inappropriately.

Count 10

ROLF HARRIS on the 31st of May 1986 indecently assaulted (4th victim), a female

person aged 14 years, by touching her inappropriately.

Count 11

ROLF HARRIS on the 31st day of May 1986 indecently assaulted (4th victim), a

female person aged 14 years, by touching her inappropriately.

Count 12

ROLF HARRIS on the 31st day of May 1986 indecently assaulted (4th victim), a

female person aged 14 years, by digitally penetrating her.

FULL COVERAGE

GROOMING GIRLS: Harris a Jekyll and Hyde character

APOLOGETIC: Harris wrote to father of alleged victim

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West Aussies spend most on mum

West Aussies will spend the most on mum this Mother's Day. Source: Supplied

WEST Australians have a mother complex.

A new study has found sandgropers will spend on average $67.10 each celebrating Mother's Day today — the highest spend per person in the country.

It's 20 per cent more than South Australians, whose residents average the lowest at $56.20.

But community leaders are urging West Australians to do more than just dip into their wallets to tell mum they love her.

Across the country Australians are predicted to spend just over $1.4 billion this Mother's Day. An IBISWorld study found most people will take their mother out for a restaurant meal, buy her flowers or give her a gift voucher.

The study found house appliances were the biggest growth market for presents, up 4.7 per cent on last year.

IBISWorld Australia general manager Dan Ruthven said many children saw homeware as "functional".

"Vouchers are a safe and easy option, especially for those struggling for ideas or time," he said.

Mr Ruthven said eating out was always popular because it took the stress of cooking away from the day.

IBISWorld senior industry analyst Sebastian Chia said West Australians would spend more than residents in other parts of Australia because wages were higher. The high cost of living also meant some products were more expensive in WA than elsewhere.

Archdiocese of Perth spokesman James Parker called on West Australians not to "cut corners" by turning only to material goods for present ideas.

"Our nation is living in an age when material possessions are easier to acquire than ever before," he said. "Gifts are great, but not at the expense of life-giving relationships."

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Troy Buswell’s gravy train trip to shame

Troy Buswell returned to Parliament in time to watch Mike Nahan deliver the 2014 West Australian State Budget. Source: News Corp Australia

BIG sections of Troy Buswell's research report justifying his expensive taxpayer-funded trip to Europe and Asia to study light rail last year are plagiarised from public websites and brochures.

A simple check using ­Google reveals many parts of the disgraced former treasurer's 20-page report have been lifted word for word from the internet.

Mr Buswell, who resigned as WA treasurer after revelations he had smashed into four cars in Subiaco while driving home in his ministerial car from a February wedding, supposedly spent three months working on the research paper – which was handed in one month overdue.

Some of the plagiarism is so blatant he did not even bother to update facts.

For example, he refers to Bombardier being part of a consortium "selected in May" to build the Gold Coast light rail system, when it should be May 2011.

● READ TROY BUSWELL'S RESEARCH REPORT

The Sunday Times ran the report through the WriteCheck software used to detect plagiarism by university students. It found 29 per cent of report into the European leg of the tour was plagiarised.

According to Curtin University's academic integrity guidelines, if more than 10 per cent of work is copied it is considered plagiarism of the "highest level" and could lead to expulsion.

Curtin University Sustainability Policy Institute director Peter Newman said the extent of Mr Buswell's plagiarism was "amazing".

"We would not just fail a student who did this, but they would be expelled," he said.

The university's School of Media head Joseph Fernandez said the report was "slipshod". and would see serious consequences in a tertiary environment.

"If Mr Buswell does not respond to the questions raised by this slipshod report on his study tour the Premier should take the lead and demand a full explanation from Mr Buswell and take appropriate action," he said.

The report has no references, no minutes or specific dates for meetings with officials and no details of discussions held.

Much of the 20-page report is also taken up by captionless photographs that come with no explanation as to what is in the picture, or why it is significant.

Mr Buswell makes six short findings on light rail, which he could have deduced from his office in Perth.

One of the "key findings" is how "light rail can form a very effective component of an integrated public transport system".

Another is that "over time" light rail "can become an embedded part of the community".

Opposition transport spokesman Ken Travers last night said Mr Buswell "should have stayed home and saved taxpayers a small fortune".

"The truth is (Mr Buswell) could have put this report together without ever leaving his office in West Perth," he said.

The Sunday Times asked Jemma Green, a transport expert from Curtin University's Sustainable Policy Institute, to critique the report.

She said it resembled an "early draft".

"The report lacks any detail on how much these foreign rail programs cost, how they were financed and what value was created as a result of them," she said.

The Sunday Times revealed last week the trip cost taxpayers almost $14,000 on hotels, meals, laundry and airport transfers.

Where did Troy Buswell get his report from? Source: Supplied

Premier Colin Barnett has so far refused to release the full cost of the August-September trip, but said Mr Buswell would be made to explain the credit card bill. Yesterday he refused to comment on the study report.

The trip's itinerary included Switzerland, Germany, France, China and Hong Kong. Mr Buswell took the trip with Public Transport Authority managing director Mark Burgess.

While in Europe they were joined by Mr Buswell's then chief of staff Rachael Turnseck. In Asia they were joined by Department of Fisheries director-general Stuart Smith.

Mr Buswell returned to ­Parliament this week for the first time since his resignation as treasurer, which followed a mental health breakdown.

He refused to answer questions about whether he was drunk when he drove from the wedding.

Mr Buswell said he had been diagnosed with bipolar depression, but was looking to forward to life as a backbencher serving Vasse.

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Thugs kill school’s 14 pet chickens

A GRAFFITI tag might be the key to discovering the people behind a shocking attack that saw 14 pet chickens at a Perth primary school killed.

The dead chickens were discovered at St Brigid's Primary School in Middle Swan on Monday and had apparently been killed over the weekend.

Police say the killers left behind a graffiti tag on the chicken coop, and identifying the tagger might help them find the culprit.

The RSPCA is also investigating the incident.

A spokesman from the RSPCA said the cause of death of the chooks was not yet known, because the school gardener — in an effort to protect the students from a traumatic sight — had already buried the animals by the time investigators arrived.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crimestoppers on 1800 333 000.

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Where to buy for less than $430,000

MEDIAN UNIT PRICES BELOW $430,000

Source: RP Data. All data is to February 2014.

Suburb Median Sale Price

(12 months)

ARMADALE $276,000

BALDIVIS $415,000

BALGA $307,000

BALLAJURA $342,500

BASSENDEAN $392,500

BAYSWATER $290,000

BECKENHAM $363,000

BELMONT $417,000

BENTLEY $420,000

BERTRAM $293,250

BIBRA LAKE $346,000

CANNINGTON $405,000

CLARKSON $395,000

COCKBURN CENTRAL $427,000

COOLBELLUP $324,500

CURRAMBINE $385,000

DIANELLA $400,000

EAST VICTORIA PARK $427,500

FORRESTFIELD $319,750

GIRRAWHEEN $310,000

GLENDALOUGH $325,000

GOSNELLS $315,000

HAMILTON HILL $388,000

INGLEWOOD $353,500

JOLIMONT $405,000

JOONDALUP $415,000

JOONDANNA $410,000

KALLAROO $390,000

KARDINYA $406,000

KELMSCOTT $312,000

KEWDALE $410,000

KINGSLEY $390,000

LANGFORD $335,000

LATHLAIN $358,500

LOCKRIDGE $311,000

MADDINGTON $310,000

MAYLANDS $394,000

MIDLAND $355,000

MORLEY $357,500

MOSMAN PARK $370,000

MOUNT LAWLEY $425,000

NOLLAMARA $420,000

NORANDA $375,000

ORELIA $192,500

OSBORNE PARK $345,000

QUEENS PARK $411,000

REDCLIFFE $362,500

RIVERVALE $375,000

ROCKINGHAM $300,000

SAFETY BAY $310,000

SAINT JAMES $416,500

SEVILLE GROVE $299,250

SHOALWATER $255,000

SORRENTO $345,000

SPEARWOOD $335,000

THORNLIE $315,000

TUART HILL $390,000

VICTORIA PARK $395,000

WAIKIKI $342,000

WEMBLEY $310,250

WEST LEEDERVILLE $390,000

WHITE GUM VALLEY $235,000

WOODVALE $405,000

YOKINE $371,000

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Nic Naitanui close to $4m deal

West Coast skipper Darren Glass has backed star ruckman Nic Naitanui to return to form.

Show me the money: Nic Naitanui is close to signing a multi-million dollar five-year deal with West Coast. Picture: Justin Benson-Cooper. Source: News Corp Australia

BESIEGED West Coast ruck star Nic Naitanui is on the verge of a multi-million dollar contract despite indifferent form that has bitterly divided estimates of his value in the Eagles long term plans for premiership success.

He is poised to agree to a package in the region of $4 million over five years and effectively secure the highly marketable and affable big man as an Eagle for life.

Naitanui, 24, will also get incentives if he achieves key performance assessment levels on and off the field over the length of his new contract.

He is expected to complete negotiations on a hotly debated deal and his true market value during the Eagles bye over the next fortnight.

Final negotiations are scheduled for after Sunday's clash with Greater Western Sydney in Perth.

His deal could even be announced late this week after further discussions with Naitanui's management and Eagles players return from a brief in-season break ahead of a return to duty against Collingwood in Melbourne on Saturday-week.

West Coast's Nic Naitanui - a match-winner at his best. Source: News Corp Australia

West Coast is also into formal discussions with veteran winger Matt Rosa on a deal that will keep the 143-gamer an Eagle for the rest of his career.

Rosa, 27, is tipped to sign a new three-year deal and end any prospect of the unrestricted free agent from returning to finish his playing days in his home state of Victoria.

Naitanui and his manager Paul Connors are in final stages of settling his new agreement with Eagles football heavyweights.

He will have performance-based incentives drawn into the lucrative deal that is tipped to make Naitanui the highest paid Eagle ever and on more than former pin-up star Ben Cousins and his 2006 premiership teammate Daniel Kerr.

Some of his inducements will include reaching certain amounts of games in seasons ahead, finals appearances and important finishes in club champion voting as well as pre-set performance accomplishments to be established and constantly assessed by Eagles powerbrokers.

He will also continue to receive additional AFL funded ambassadorial payments and league approved additional services partnerships, like his Channel Seven contract which are payments outside the Eagles salary cap.

West Coast management is believed to have made Naitanui his new offer with significant consideration to his undoubted playing potential and on reference back to the last season when he was fully fit in 2012 and was chosen as all-Australian ruckman.

He has had a disrupted start to the 2014 home-and-away season under new coach Adam Simpson after a second straight horror summer training schedule severely disrupted by serious groin problems.

He is playing under severe duress this season with further groin complications.

The potentially imposing enforcer staggered through just 11 matches last year on the back of a highly compromised off-season training and a late decision for surgery which forced a significantly delayed start to the 2013 campaign in Round 6.

In each of the last two summer programs he has significantly lacked critical foundation fitness, which is now affecting Naitanui's overall endurance levels and capacity to run out games.

He has averaged around 10 possessions and just 14 hit outs a game so far this season amid widespread condemnation of his lack of productivity.

Top analysts and commentators are distinctly separated on opinion of his true worth with hard hitting commentators like Brownlow medallist Brad Hardie and former Essendon goalkicking ace Matthew Lloyd calling for the hulking Naitanui to be dropped last month.

He has averaged just 10 possession an outing so far this season with only 14 hit outs with about one mark a game through seven engagements ahead of today's clash with fledgling Greater Western Sydney at Patersons Stadium.

He has booted just one goal (1.3) this season as criticism of his form has raged through AFL circles and whether the gigantic budding ruck star is worth approaching $1 million a season on potential rather than proven ability.

Across his 95-game career Naitanui averages 12 disposals and two marks an outing, as well as 20 hit outs.

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Harris heads to court for sex abuse trial

Veteran Australian artist and entertainer ... Rolf Harris arrives with his wife Alwen Hughes (right) and daughter Bindi (left) at Southwark Crown Court in central London. Picture: Leon Neal Source: AFP

AUSTRALIAN entertainment icon Rolf Harris has arrived at court to stand trial for allegedly indecently assaulting four girls.

His alleged history of sexual abuse began with an indecent assault of a pre-teen girl as early as 1968, the year he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Mr Harris, who is facing the opening of his sex-abuse trial in Southwark Crown Court, London, has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges of indecent assault against four girls, aged seven to 19, between 1968 and 1986.

The alleged offending occurred during the height of Mr Harris's international career which saw him celebrated in Australia, England and the US as a singer/songwriter, artist and TV host.

The now 84-year-old, from Bray in Berkshire, has consistently denied the charges against him.

Trial judge Justice Nigel Sweeney told jurors they must approach the case in an open-minded fashion, use their life experience to assess witnesses and ignore material and media coverage outside the courtroom.

Accompanied during his entrance to court by his wife Alwen, once inside the London courtroom Mr Harris sat behind the glass-walled dock and listened intently as the prosecution outlined the case against him.

The assaults against child victims were alleged to have occurred after Mr Harris rose to fame in the early 1960s with his hit song 'Tie me kangaroo down, Sport', his famous depiction of the Jake the Peg character and the international fascination in his didgeridoo and 'wobbleboard' playing.

Throughout the period of alleged offending, Mr Harris's prominence as a television personality continued to increase courtesy of the BBC1 program The Rolf Harris Show in the 1960s and 70s.

He was the subject of a This Is Your Life special and later hosted programs including Rolf's Cartoon Club and Animal Hospital.

Not alone ... Rolf Harris arrives with his wife Alwen Hughes and daughter Bindi at Southwark Crown Court in central London. Picture: Leon Neal Source: AFP

The charge sheet filed before the court lists 12 counts of indecent assault, including against a girl aged seven or eight on an occasion between January 1968 and January 1970; of a girl, 14, between January 1975 and January 1976; of a girl aged 12 to 15 between December 1978 and April 1981; of a girl aged 14 to 15 between 1978 and 1981; of a girl aged 12 to 15 between the same dates; of a girl aged 19 between January 1984 and January 1985 and of a girl aged 14 on May 31, 1986.

In 1982, Mr Harris performed at the opening of the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.

A few years after the last alleged offence, in 1989, Mr Harris presented a child abuse prevention video called 'Kids can say no'.

A jury panel of 12, comprising six men and six women, and three additional jurors, are expected to hear evidence over several weeks.

Perth-born Mr Harris, who has lived in the United Kingdom since 1962 but regularly returned to Australia for family visits and promotional events, was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1989 and advanced to Officer (AO) in the Queen's 2012 Birthday Honours.

In 2001 he was awarded the Centenary Medal "for service to entertainment, charity and the community" and in 2005 painted an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth.

Prior to the prosecution opening, Justice Sweeney told jurors that while he was the judge of the law, they alone were the judges of the facts.

"As judge of the law, I have various duties to manage the conduct of the trial, to see fair play and to rule, typically in your absence, on any legal argument and in due course to sum the case up to you, directing you on the law that you will have to apply," Justice Sweeney said.

"As judges of the facts, your duty, pooling your common sense and experience of life, is to assess the witnesses and the other evidence that is put before you in the trial, and in due course to decide the relevant facts and thereby, having applied my directions of law, to reach a verdict according to the evidence.

"A number of duties follow from your role as judges of the facts. It's your duty to try the case on the evidence. The evidence is the evidence that you hear in this courtroom and nothing else."

He warned jurors not to discuss the case with anyone else, not to post entries on social media and not to research the case themselves.

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Where Oscar’s gunshots hit Reeva

Oscar Pistorius' defence has called an anaesthetist to testify at the double-amputee runner's murder trial.

A BALLISTICS expert testifying for Oscar Pistorius's defence has claimed the bullets that hit Reeva Steenkamp were not in the order prosecutors claimed, offering key evidence in the star's murder trial.

Wollie Wolmarans sought to show that the sequence of the bullets showed Steenkamp was reaching for the toilet door, and not putting her hands to her face defensively.

The model's final movements have been used by the defence to show Pistorius shot the 29-year-old mistaking her for an intruder, while the prosecution has sought to show he knew she was in the cubicle and wilfully fired.

OSCAR PISTORIUS: Sells luxury death house to pay for murder trial

In happier times ... Oscar Pistorius and late girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Source: AP

Wolmarans told the court that Steenkamp was close to the toilet door and leaning slightly forward when the first of four gunshots hit her hip.

The next bullets hit her arm and hand, and the final bullet hit her head as she was falling backward.

Struggling ... Oscar Pistorius listens to evidence in court during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria, South Africa today. Picture: Themba Hadebe Source: AP

Wolmarans's testimony runs in the face of police ballistics testimony, which said one bullet missed and ricocheted off the wall, injuring Steenkamp's back and that the final bullet hit her hand and head, as she was sitting in a defensive position with her hands over her head.

The defence witness said all four hollow-point bullets hit the 29-year-old model and law graduate, saying the same bullet could not have hit both her hand and head, otherwise there would be brain tissue found on her hand.

"I would not expect that tissue to go on the wall, it would be on the inside of the hand," said Wolmarans. He said the back wounds were "consistent with falling off a blunt surface" and caused when Steenkamp fell on a wooden magazine rack in the toilet.

Evidence challenge ... Wollie Wolmarans giving evidence in the Pretoria High Court. Picture: Herman Verwey Source: Getty Images

In dispute ... ballistics investigator Captain Christian Mangena examines the evidence. Picture: Themba Hadebe Source: AFP

The state's version, that Steenkamp fell into a seated position on the magazine rack, "doesn't make sense to me," said Wolmarans.

The expert testimony bolsters the defence claim Steenkamp was reaching for the toilet door handle when she was shot by Pistorius.

The Paralympic gold medallist claims he shot his girlfriend by accident, believing her to be an intruder in his up-market Pretoria home.

In contrast, the state claims 27-year-old Pistorius shot Steenkamp in a fit of rage following an argument. If found guilty of premeditated murder, the double-amputee faces up to 25 years to life in prison.

Pistorius began the day in good spirits, cracking a rare smile in court as he greeted Wolmarans, an ex-policeman with over thirty years' experience in ballistics.

Yet as Wolmarans testified on graphic details about Steenkamp's death, the world famous athlete bent his head in the dock, shielding his eyes with his hand from photos of the bloody crime scene shown on the court television monitors.

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