‘Stretched truth’ in tragic calls

THE woman at the centre of a double stabbing has given a previously unheard account of events leading up to the deaths of Thomas Davy and Corey Christensen, saying she may have “exaggerated” some things she said to emergency call takers.

Candice Locke, 31, was cross-examined for more than two hours at the inquest into the double stabbing of Mr Christensen and her boyfriend, Mr Davy, with several barristers emphasising holes in her memory, changes to her story and exactly what she recalls inside Dean Webber’s home.

Ms Locke started her evidence on Monday, saying she had met Mr Christensen and his friend Louis Bengoa at Alva Beach on the afternoon of September 30, and they invited them to a party up the road. Ms Locke said she was drunk, and had a fight with Mr Davy over her behaviour during the night.

Mr Davy left the party, and he sent Ms Locke a series of text messages airing his frustration that she wouldn’t leave with him, which were shown at court yesterday. “I’m waiting down the road for twenty minutes. Pull yourself together. Cone (sic) get a lift with me or I’ll just camp here the night and you can come get your keys from me,” his first text, sent at 10.07pm, said to Ms Locke.

Another text sent from Mr Davy to Ms Locke four minutes later tells her where he is, pulled up under coconut trees she is familiar with, saying he was going to sleep there. Instead of texting Mr Davy back, Ms Locke got on the buggy with Mr Bengoa to try to find him, but told the court she may not have shared her intentions with Mr Bengoa when they set off.

“I mustn’t have seen this message … I don’t recall this one,” she said about the text from Mr Davy explaining where he was parked. During the ride, Ms Locke came off the buggy and hit “hard sand”, injuring her shoulder.

Barrister for Mr Webber, Harvey Walters, pointed out that in emergency calls, her first police interview and in a conversation with doctors, that Ms Locke told them she was pushed from the buggy. Mr Walters also questioned her level of intoxication, and Ms Locke admitted she had a drinking problem at the time.

Ms Locke told the court how Mr Bengoa “sorta laughed” at her when she fell, and told her to get back on the buggy, but she got off and went and hid behind a car. Mr Bengoa came back with Mr Christensen, and Ms Locke got back on the buggy for a short time before asking them to stop.

“I said I’m going to get help,” Ms Locke said. She walked to Mr Webber’s home, saying she did not hear Mr Bengoa or Mr Christensen calling out for her.

Mr Webber called triple-0, and Ms Locke said she sat crouched in the corner of his kitchen while he spoke with police and ambulance.

During one of the phone calls, she told an operator that Mr Christensen and Mr Bengoa were acting “crazy”, and she sought refuge in Mr Webber’s home. Under cross-examination by Mr Minnery, she said that “may have been an exaggeration”. Ms Locke said the men were “just banging and (calling) my name” outside Mr Webber’s home. She was asked if their voices seemed aggressive, and she answered “yes”.

At the time of the stabbing, Ms Locke said she was crouched in the kitchen and heard what sounded like a “punch up” in the lounge room area. She said it was hard to tell if both men had entered the home, but it was possible the sound involved just one man.

In a recorded phone call, Mr Webber tells an operator that the man had ripped his door off. Under cross-examination by the Christensen family’s counsel

Justin Godbolt Ms Locke said she never heard the sound of a door being moved off its tracks.