A distraught dad yesterday fought back tears as he told a court of the horror of seeing the battered body of his daughter's best friend.

An emotional Rick Meens described the scene as he identified Rebecca Middleton as she lay naked in a pool of blood on a secluded road at Ferry Reach.

"I was in total disbelief, I thought I was dreaming, I had to go back a second time because I couldn't believe it,'' he said. "I was in a state of shock.'' Mr. Meens, father of Jasmine Meens, had gone to Ferry Reach early on July 3, 1996, after receiving a call from Police, who asked him to go to St. George's Police Station.

Hours earlier he had searched in his car for Rebecca Middleton after she failed to arrive at his Smith's home -- after she and Jasmine accepted lifts home on separate motorcycles.

"I remember asking them (the Police) what it was and they said I should come to the station. I kept asking if they had found her and if she was OK because she hadn't come home.

"I was thinking it was possible she had been raped. I kept asking if she was OK, they kept on saying `you must come to the station'.'' On his way to the station, he described hearing on the radio of the murder and went straight to Ferry Reach.

"I asked a Police officer, `have you found a young woman? He said yes'. I walked down the road and saw her body.'' Mr. Meens was speaking as the trial of Justis Smith reaches the end of its second week.

Smith, 19, of Deepdale Road East, Pembroke, pleads not guilty to premeditated murder.

Rebecca Middleton, 17, was sexually assaulted, tortured and stabbed to death after a night out in St. George's with Jasmine Meens -- with whom she was staying for the summer.

Under examination in chief from Solicitor General William Pearce, Mr. Meens told how earlier on in the evening he had driven the two teenagers to the town.

He said they weren't allowed to travel on motorcycles and he expected them to call him for a lift home.

Shortly after 3 a.m. he was woken by his daughter, who said Rebecca had not returned home. He went out to search for her, stopping at fishing spots and parks in the hope that she had stopped to talk to friends.

Eventually he returned home and dozed until 7 a.m., when he called the Police to report that Ms Middleton had not come back.

Earlier, Wendall Burchall Snr, a security guard at the Shell installation on Ferry Road, told how he had seen a motorcycle pass the site minutes before Rebecca Middleton was found murdered.

He said the bike was travelling back towards St. George's at around 3.15 a.m.

and was illuminated by the base's lights as it passed.

"I heard a bike go past, looked up because I could see good with the light shining on the main road,'' he said. "There were two people on the bike and a piece of rag on the back, it was going out of Ferry Reach.

"It went over the hill, around the corner and out of sight.'' Middleton Mr. Burchall described the people on the bike as brown skinned, wearing dark clothing and dark helmets.

Defence counsel Archibald Warner asked him if he recalled telling the Police originally that the passenger was wearing a white shirt. He replied that he could have done.

Mr. Warner also asked if there was more traffic on the road because of people camping at Ferry Reach, but the witness said he couldn't say.

Later, at around 3.45 a.m., Police officers on duty at Flatts recalled a motorcycle, coming from the east, with two men on it, stopping briefly to talk to another motorcyclist, before heading towards Hamilton.

One of the officers, P.c. Francis Vazquez, recalled going to Ferry Reach at around 4 a.m.

He tried in vain to find a pulse.

"Her eyes were open but glazed and unresponsive to my flashlight,'' he said.

"She had tears going down the side of her face.'' The trial continues today.

COURTS CTS