http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/...l/news-story/ed0e881c37f6b4b22ed4f3ee4dbaeda1
BRENDEN Bennetts initially told police he hadn’t heard from Jayde Kendall since the day before she went missing, a court has heard.
But he didn’t know police already had records showing he had phone contact with the teenager in the hours before she vanished.
The Supreme Court jury in Bennetts murder trial has heard audio recordings of police making initial inquiries of Bennetts on August 18, 2015 — four days after Jayde’s father reported her missing.
Detective Sergeant Murray O’Connell, from Queensland Police’s homicide unit, phoned Bennetts to ask if he heard from Jayde, and a recording of the conversation was played in court this afternoon.
Bennetts told the detective he saw her the day before she went missing when he picked up a friend from McDonald’s — where she worked — but said there had been no “recent” communication.
Soon after, police went to a Grantham property to speak with Bennetts in person and told him they wanted to clarify some “discrepancies” as they knew he had been in phone contact with the 16-year-old.
“I think there might have been a few texts,” he said.
He said “I don’t have the records on me” when asked if he still had the texts, claiming his phone broke and he was using a replacement.
Bennetts said he thought “she might have said she was meeting a friend”.
“I honestly can’t remember,” he said.
When police asked if she was meeting him, Bennetts replied: “No she wasn’t meeting me, I was down in Logan”.
The court has previously heard the pair exchanged texts about 11.30am on August 14, with Jayde indicating she was nervous and Bennetts telling her she would forget her nerves “once things heat up”.
EARLIER: One of the last people to see schoolgirl Jayde Kendall alive says the 16-year-old was “really happy” when they crossed paths on a high school oval less than two hours before she died.
Brenden Bennetts, 21, is facing day two of a murder trial in the Supreme Court in Brisbane today after he pleaded not guilty to murder yesterday.
He has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but the plea to the lesser charge was not accepted by the prosecution.
The jury has been played audio and video recordings of various child witnesses who recounted their interactions with Jayde before she was allegedly murdered on August 14, 2015, and her body was found 13 days later.
Jordan Cullinane said she and her older sister came across Jayde on the Lockyer District High School oval between 3.20 and 3.25pm on August 14.
It is alleged she was dead by 5pm that day.
Jordan said Jayde was “really happy” when they saw her.
“She said that she was good ... she’s usually a really happy person,” she told police in the interview.
Jordan said the trio discussed a funny Facebook post Jayde had put up about doing sit ups.
The jury also heard from three managers at McDonald’s in Gatton who confirmed Jayde did not turn up for her 5pm shift on August 14.
It is alleged that Bennetts picked her up from school about 3.20pm and murdered her the same day, although her cause of death is unknown.
Another child witness told police in a recording played to the jury that she saw Jayde in a red car with a black stripe on August 14.
Brittany Janson said Jayde was in the car with a man she described as “really tall ... skinny ... (with) dark brown or black hair”.
The trial continues.
