The inquest into the suspected death of Eden grandmother Sylvia Pajuczok in December 2008 has resumed in Bombala with three witnesses giving evidence on Monday morning.
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In an opening address before Magistrate Mark Douglass, Senior Counsel Ian Bourke told the court that the evidence at the Sydney hearings last year did not support the theory that Ms Pajuczok had committed suicide or had "wandered off".
Mr Bourke said the evidence pointed to her having met with foul play on or around December 23 or 24, 2008.
He said more than 200 witness statements had been taken and extensive physical searches of the Rockton area - by foot, on horses and trail bikes, from helicopters, and with tracker dogs - had failed to find any trace of her.
Ms Pajuczok - who had been married and divorced twice and was living off a disability support pension - was staying between properties owned by her brother, Igor Pajuczok, and James 'Jim' Hawes at Rockton, near, Bombala, when she disappeared.
Earlier in December 2008 Ms Pajuczok had phoned her brother, asking to spend Christmas with him because she was frightened someone in Eden was after her.
But Mr [Igor] Pajuczok was planning to spend Christmas in Melbourne, so suggested she stay with Mr Hawes.
The first person to give evidence on Monday was Adele Cameron of Towamba, near Eden, who had been in a romantic relationship with Mr Hawes around 2009-2010.
Ms Cameron recalled being at Mr Hawes' place one night for dinner when a man by the name of Chris Murdoch showed up uninvited.
She said Mr Murdoch had had a few drinks and during "chit chat" at the kitchen table mentioned that Mr Hawes had been the last person to see Ms Pajuczok on Christmas Eve, 2008.
The dinner had taken place near the anniversary of Ms Pajuczok's disappearance, she said.
Ms Cameron said Mr Murdoch wasn't in a very good mood and it "wasn't nice" the way he had brought it up.
"Jim didn't look very happy about it," she said, adding that she could tell by the look on his face.
When she later asked Mr Hawes what Mr Murdoch had been talking about he admitted to her that Mr Pajuczok had been at his place on Christmas Eve, and that the pair had had a row, and he told her to leave.
Mr Hawes told her the police were out to get him, she said.
"He told me he was [a suspect]," she said.
In evidence, Mr Murdoch conceded that he may have said something along the lines of "look under the bed for an axe" to Ms Cameron in order to "stir" Mr Hawes the night of the dinner.
He said that his partner, Barbara Fox, was in hospital in Canberra during December 2008 and early January 2009.
Mr Murdoch said he visited Ms Fox in hospital on December 24 because it was her birthday.
He said he was at home on December 23 and had phoned Ms Fox at 9.54pm.
When questioned as to why he was able to be so precise about the time of the phone call, Mr Murdoch said he had checked his phone records with Telstra "a week or so back".
Mr Burke asked him if he had wanted to have an "alibi".
He said he was "just interested" in where he was.
Ms Fox also gave evidence; she said that she and another woman had played matchmakers between Mr Hawes and Ms Cameron as she knew Ms Cameron was seeking a relationship.
She said Mr Hawes had been going around the neighbours giving his version of events.
He said he felt persecuted by police who were making him out to be guilty of an offence he was in no way guilty of, she said.
Mr Hawes had told her that he and Ms Pajuczok had had an argument, that he had been drinking, she had got on his nerves, and when he told her to leave, she did.
Magistrate Douglass adjourned the hearings at lunchtime Monday to enable him to visit some sites of interest in the Rockton area.
The inquest resumes Tuesday.