There was not a shred of evidence to suggest that the Mackay sisters knew Arthur Stanley Brown, the 87-year-old man charged with their murders, defence counsel Mark Donnelly told the Townsville Supreme Court yesterday.
Summing up the defence case, Mr Donnelly said that while Susan and Judith Mackay were among 400 students at Aitkenvale State School in Townsville at the time they were murdered, the prosecution had been unable to produce any witnesses who could testify that they had seen Mr Brown at the school.
Mr Brown -- a maintenance carpenter at schools and other state government buildings at the time -- has pleaded not guilty to charges of abducting, sexually assaulting and murdering Susan Mackay, 5 and her sister Judith, 7, on August 26, 1970.
Witnesses have told the trial they saw two girls being driven by a man on the day the sisters disappeared.
Mr Donnelly said there was ample evidence to suggest the sisters would not accept a lift from someone they did not know very well. He said their father, William Mackay, had testified they had been well educated about the dangers of taking lifts from strangers.
They had even refused lifts offered by a couple who lived in the same street as they did.
Mr Donnelly said 17 witnesses who reported seeing a suspicious vehicle the day the girls disappeared all said they saw a Holden, but Mr Brown drove a Vauxhall at the time.
He also challenged the evidence given by Neil Lunney, a Vietnam veteran who said he saw a man driving two girls in Aitkenvale school uniforms as he drove to work on the day the sisters disappeared.
Prosecutor Jim Henry had told the jury on Monday that if they accepted Mr Lunney's evidence, they would have to convict Mr Brown.
Mr Lunney, who identified Mr Brown as the man he saw that day, had testified that he had a good look at the driver and remembered him well because he had almost run him off the road.
But Mr Donnelly said Mr Lunney's wife Alice, who was travelling with him at the time, had testified she had seen the car in question for only "a matter of seconds".
Mr Donnelly said the evidence of John Hill, a former apprentice to Mr Brown, was also questionable.
Mr Hill had testified that Mr Brown had confessed to him in 1975 that he had killed the sisters.
But until Mr Brown was arrested in December last year, Mr Hill had not told anyone about the alleged confession -- not even his wife Michelle, who was in Judith Mackay's class at Aitkenvale State School.
The jury is expected to begin considering its verdict today.
Further articles from The Australian and The Weekend Australian: