Murder-accused `hid three pregnancies`

A water polo champion who kept her pregnancies secret murdered one newborn infant
hours before socialising at a wedding, a Sydney jury has been told.
Keli Lane did not "want to be saddled with the responsibility of having a child" as
she wanted to pursue her sporting, sex and social life, said Mark Tedeschi QC in the
crown opening address on Monday.
Lane, 35, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Tegan Lane when she was only two days
old, after they were discharged from Auburn Hospital in Sydney's west on September
14, 1996.
Lane has also pleaded not guilty in the NSW Supreme Court to three perjury counts,
relating to affidavits she signed in 1995 and 1999.
Mr Tedeschi said Lane became pregnant five times in the years from 1992 to 1999, the
first two resulting in terminations and the other three proceeding to birth.
But he said she hid those pregnancies, even from her boyfriend with whom she had an
active sex life.
"It might seem very strange to you that somebody might be able to hide three
full-term pregnancies like that, but it does happen," Mr Tedeschi said.
He said Lane took action "to be permanently rid of the responsibilities of looking
after a child".
She had "an overriding ambition" to represent Australia in the 2000 Olympics when
women's polo was first introduced as a Games category, he said.
Second, she had a "very active social and sex life" and "a child was not part of
this picture".
She also was "extremely fearful that if her family found out about these pregnancies
that they would reject her and abandon her".
Lane hid her pregnancies by wearing sloppy joes and loose clothing and wrapping
jumpers around her waist, he said.
"She would wrap a towel around her, sit on the edge of the pool and take the towel
off as she slipped into the pool," he said.
Some colleagues thought this was odd and would put on goggles to look at her under
the water, but Lane told no one about her pregnancies, he said.
Another "bizarre" aspect of the case was the fact that Lane was taking the
contraceptive pill yet became pregnant five times in seven years.
"The answer may be that during those seven years, she was drinking very, very
heavily," he said.
She used to "keep up with the boys" and would sometimes vomit, meaning a pill might
not have been absorbed properly.
"There was not the slightest suggestion that the accused was suffering from any form
of postnatal depression or any mental disturbance following the births," Mr Tedeschi
said.
The evidence was to the contrary - upon leaving the hospital she resumed her active
sporting, sex and social life, he said.
Lane was discharged from Auburn Hospital between 11am and noon on September 14,
1996, and arrived at her parents' home, where she lived, in Fairlight about three
hours later.
"It is alleged that in those intervening hours, the accused murdered her daughter
Tegan," he said.
She then went to a wedding with her boyfriend, where she was seen to be socialising,
drinking and dancing.
Referring to another birth, Mr Tedeschi said Lane's team had lost a polo match and
that evening the group went to a pub.
During the night people noticed that Lane was not around, not knowing that she had
gone to Balmain Hospital after going into labour.
The trial is continuing before Justice Anthony Whealy.