A police crash expert told a court he believed Blessie Gotingco was hit by a car while she was walking along a suburban pavement - but it was also possible she may have been hit while crossing the road.
Sergeant Blair Atkinson of the serious crash unit completed a "forensic mapping" of the North Shore street where the mother of three was allegedly run down on May 24 last year.
He pointed to a tyre track and the spread of her personal belongings as evidence a car had mounted the kerb and mowed her down.
The Crown says the 28-year-old man charged with Mrs Gotingco's rape and murder was behind the wheel and deliberately drove his silver BMW into her.
After the collision it is alleged he bundled her into the car and took her back to his apartment complex nearby where he raped her, slit her throat and stabbed her to death.
In opening his case, the defendant - who has name suppression but whose image can be published - admitted he hit Mrs Gotingco, but claimed it was an accident.
Expert witness Mr Atkinson said the "debris spread", which included the victim's lunchbox and her shoes, and an impression on the grass verge of Salisbury Rd, suggested she had been hit while walking on the pavement.
However, under cross-examination by the defendant, who is representing himself, Mr Atkinson admitted looking at the placement of a victim's belongings was notoriously unreliable in determining the point of impact in a crash.
Mr Atkinson also accepted there was nothing in the evidence to suggest it was specifically the defendant's car that had veered off the road.
When asked whether broken bones in Mrs Gotingco's left leg pointed to the possibility she was crossing the road and hit side-on, the witness confirmed it was one potential scenario.
Yesterday, the jury also heard from neighbours of the defendant and a young girl who lived near the crash scene, who described hearing a "high-pitched scream" on the night the Birkdale woman went missing.
Neighbour Stephen Meadows said he had heard loud music coming from the defendant's apartment below his that same evening, when the Crown said he was stabbing Mrs Gotingco to death.
The witness said he was watching television around 9pm when he noticed the music was loud and he considered going downstairs to ask whoever was playing it to turn it off.
It was unusual, Mr Meadows said, because he had not heard music coming from the apartment before.
Detective Shane Page completed an investigation of the defendant's vehicle after it had been seized.
He told the court there were cuts and scratches in the leather of the passenger seats in the back of the car, as well as blood in many areas.
Foam had been removed from the seat squabs and a passenger seatbelt was cut short, he said.
Another officer Constable Nathan Burtenshaw was sent to the apartment to check rubbish bins.
"In the orange bags I found foam material with what appeared to be blood stains and hair matter," he said.
He also found a piece of seatbelt and sponge.
The trial, before Justice Timothy Brewer and a jury of seven men and five women, is scheduled to last three weeks.
