Bill Power, the police rounds reporter who covered the Birnie's crimes and trial for the Perth Daily News recalls the Birnie's appearance in the Perth Supreme Court as one of the most chilling experiences of his career and remembers it as if it were yesterday.
"There was nothing distinctive about David and Catherine Birnie when they first appeared in court to face multiple murder charges in the serial killings which brought to an end the mystery of young women going missing off Perth streets," Bill recalled.
"They were a rather nondescript, ordinary looking couple you might find running a petrol station in a country town. David was a weedy little man and Catherine his drab, slightly buxom wife with a very sour face. Both were accompanied by male police officers.
"David Birnie appeared first at the top of the stairs from the holding cell beneath the court and looked totally out of place in the majestic Perth Supreme Court. He was already in the dock glancing around at the massed police, court staff and huge media contingent as Catherine made her way up the stairs to the courtroom.
"The scrawny little serial killer was mesmerising enough but nothing could have prepared me for the moment that Catherine Birnie appeared at the top of the jarrah staircase leading up to the dock where the charges were to be read out to them.
"If you have ever witnessed a wild cat go off, then try and imagine that same hellcat in the confined spaces of a narrow staircase. Catherine Birnie fought against the guarding police officers and refused to allow any of them to touch her as she screamed and spat her words at them until she reached the dock and spotted her beloved David. Only then did she calm down.
"The unusualness of her appearance continued when David Birnie stood before the court to hear the murder charges read against him and Catherine Birnie was allowed to sit on a small wooden bench immediately behind him. As the judge leveled the horrible case against him, Birnie stood motionless with his hands clasped behind his back.
"What I witnessed next I will take to the grave with me," Bill Power recalled. "As the heinous charges of abduction, rape, torture and murder were being read out against him, Catherine Birnie bent forward, stretched out her right hand and gently stroked the ball of David Birnie's thumb behind his back.
"There has probably never before been such a declaration of undying love in the Western Australian Supreme Court dock."
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