Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald…

Prostitute’s bite mark was sex play not death struggle, court told

A bite mark on the arm of a murdered Sydney prostitute that matches the dental records of a commercial diver might have been inflicted during intercourse, his lawyer says.

But prosecutors argue Rachael Campbell was bitten as the pair struggled over the knife that killed her, the NSW Supreme Court has been told.

The 29-year-old sex worker’s body was found with multiple stab wounds in the grounds of St Joseph’s Church at Rosebery on November 7, 1998.

Richard Edward Dorrough, 32, was extradicted from Perth to Sydney in January this year after DNA evidence linked him to the death.

Two used condoms, a vaginal swab, DNA on the sheet Ms Campbell’s body was wrapped in and teeth marks matching Dorrough’s dental records placed him at the scene.

As his bail application was heard in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday, barrister Ertunc Ozen said his client had hired the prostitute for sex, but denies he had anything to do with her death.

“Obviously [the DNA] proves not only some contact with the deceased, but contact of a very specific nature – sexual contact,” Mr Ozen told the court.

“It would not of itself tend to suggest … that the applicant must have been the one to murder this woman.”

The bite mark on her arm – if it was proved to belong to Dorrough – could be explained by sex play, he said.

“There are a number of ways in which a bite mark could be occasioned which have nothing to do with getting a knife,” he said.