POLICE had not recovered a bloodied garden fork in the garage because they were originally searching for a knife or paddle, the Supreme Court in Brisbane heard yesterday.
Defence lawyer Sam Di Carlo was cross-examining scientific officer Andrew Rowan about the search of the Bridgeman Downs home where the bodies of Neelma Singh, 24, and her siblings Kunal, 18, and Sidhi, 12, were found on April 22, 2003.
Max Sica, 42, has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges.
Courier Mail reports that police found a garden fork with the victims' blood on it behind a barbecue stand in the garage several days after the siblings' bodies were found.
Sgt Rowan said he remembered searching the garage the day after the bodies were found but had not inspected the garden fork.
He said no formal instructions were given but he was looking for blood on the walls or the vehicles and any items hidden in the garage such as a knife, pistol or a paddle. Mr Di Carlo said a garden fork with blood on it would have been of interest.
"In hindsight, if I picked up a fork with blood at that time, we would not be having this conversation," Sgt Rowan said.
Mr Di Carlo said there was no order to look for a pistol and in reality, police had employed all four methods of search in the garage.
Sgt Rowan said he had no knowledge of how the victims died at the time and employed some of all four methods.
Mr Di Carlo asked whether Sgt Rowan accepted he should have looked behind the barbecue stand during the first search.
Sgt Rowan said in hindsight he did not know if he would have done the same thing today.