First murder trial for 150 years begins on South Pacific island

A South Pacific island which was once a brutal British penal colony was forced to confront its modern ghosts yesterday when a New Zealand chef appeared in court charged with the frenzied murder of a young woman.

The battered body of Sydney-born Janelle Patton was found at a picnic spot on Norfolk Island, a self-governing Australian territory, on Easter Sunday 2002. It was the first murder for nearly 150 years on the island, where the convicts were replaced by descendants of the Bounty mutineers.

Ms Patton, 29, who had been living there for three years, disappeared during one of her regular afternoon walks. She was supposed to meet up with her parents, Ron and Carol, who were visiting from Australia, for dinner. In a tiny courtroom in the capital, Kingston, the site of imposing stone buildings from the convict era, the Pattons sat opposite their daughter's alleged killer, Glenn McNeill, 28, who was arrested in February in his home town of Nelson, New Zealand.

McNeill was working as a chef on Norfolk, situated 1,000 miles north-east of Australia, at the time of the murder. But he was not named at the inquest in 2004, where the coroner, Ron Cahill, identified 14 "persons of interest". He was detained, reportedly, as a result of new DNA evidence.

Mr Cahill, who is also Norfolk's magistrate, will decide if there is enough evidence to commit Mr McNeill to trial. If so, that will throw up a quandary: how to select a jury from a close-knit community of 1,800 people, most of whom are familiar with every detail of the crime.

The murder was a devastating blow to Norfolk, a popular holiday destination for elderly Australians and New Zealanders. But it was not only the tourism industry that suffered. The killing created a climate of fear and mistrust in a formerly crime-free haven, and unleashed a torrent of gossip, sparking divisions that have yet to heal.

The Australian detective who led the investigation, Sgt Bob Peters, said he believed that the islanders were concealing information. The implication was clear: they were shielding one of their own. The arrest of an outsider was greeted with relief. Many locals had given their fingerprints and taken part in a mass DNA-sampling exercise.

Ms Patton, who had been working in a hotel restaurant, was one of hundreds of temporary residents attracted by Norfolk's idyllic setting and tax-free status. She had gone there to make a fresh start after a string of disastrous relationships, including one with a sailor who broke her jaw.

The inquest heard that she became involved with a series of men on the island. But no one was aware that she even knew Mr McNeill.

Ron and Carol Patton spent their honeymoon on Norfolk. Before going into court and facing Mr McNeill for the first time. Mrs Patton said: "We have mixed emotions, coming back here, as there have been some very happy times for us here." She said she and her husband were seeking "as many answers as possible".

Ms Patton was stabbed and beaten to death, her body wrapped in black plastic and dumped. She had more than 60 injuries, including a fractured skull, pelvis and ribs, and a punctured lung. She appeared to have fought hard to defend herself.

More than 30 witnesses are expected to testify at the five-day committal hearing. Mr McNeill, who has married and had two children since the murder, did not enter a plea. The prosecutor, Graham Rhead, told Mr Cahill that exhibits including Mr McNeill's white Honda Civic were available to inspect.

Mr McNeill, who has been held in a Sydney prison since he was extradited, was flown to Norfolk on Sunday. His parents watched from the crowded public gallery as he sat in the dock, flanked by two police officers.

Norfolk, whose residents include Colleen McCullough, author of The Thorn Birds, was settled in 1856 by descendants of the English sailors who rebelled against Captain William Bligh. The mutineers, led by Fletcher Christian, first sought refuge on tiny, remote Pitcairn Island, but their grandchildren, fearing they would outgrow it, left.

The murder has shattered Norfolk's image as a quaint little place where cows have right of way and the locals speak a hybrid of old English and Polynesian. About half claim Pitcairn blood, and many still share the same surnames, including Christian.