A MAN charged with murdering 32-year-old Amanda Quirk, whose body was found in an embankment off the highway at Drake, has told how he drove through the night to find a dumping spot in NSW.
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Christopher James Swan, 39, of Ipswich, has told the Brisbane Supreme Court he drove through Warwick and Stanthorpe and on to NSW with the intention of leaving the body in bushland near Tenterfield.
"I waited until there was (sic) no cars coming, opened the boot, dragged her out of the boot, dragged her down the hill," he said.
"It was a downhill slide, 100m or something. I just covered her with branches and ferns and that."
Swan and Rachel Narelle Smith, 40, have pleaded not guilty in Brisbane Supreme Court to murdering Ms Quirk, 32, in Booval on the eve of Easter, 2010.
The three were flatmates and Smith and Swan have accused each other of the death.
Swan, through a recorded police interview played to the court, said the first assault began while they were returning to Ipswich after getting drugs in Wynnum.
"Amanda had told certain people there were drugs and guns in our house and that she wanted us knocked so she could have the house back," he said.
He said Ms Quirk had been bashed by Smith and Michelle Anne Mondientz near the Gateway Motorway before they returned to Booval.
Swan said Smith had hit Quirk, causing her death, and he had attempted CPR.
He said he otherwise only gave Ms Quirk a "light slap" during the whole ordeal. "I slapped her in the side of the head but I didn't punch her," he said.
Smith, in a police interview played in Brisbane Supreme Court, claimed Swan made her clean up the mess in the Ipswich home and threatened to slit her throat if she told anyone.
Smith told police she watched Swan repeatedly beat, kick and jump on Ms Quirk's head until she stopped breathing.
Swan also confessed to using Ms Quirk's ATM card, after her death, to withdraw a significant amount of money to buy the illicit drug speed which he had then shared with Smith and Mondientz.
The jury heard Mondientz is already serving a five year prison term for her role in Ms Quirk's fate.
Crown prosecutor Ben Power told the jury Mondientz was a long-time friend of Quirk while Smith and Swan lived with her at 21 Dudleigh Street at Booval, Ipswich.
Mr Power said Mondientz, who suffers from a range of mental health issues, was angry Ms Quirk had told people she was back working as a prostitute. The trial continues.
