Graphic and distressing details about the post-mortem examinations of Jane Rimmer and Ciara Glennon have been "temporarily" suppressed in the Claremont serial killings trial.
Ex-Telstra technician Bradley Robert Edwards, 51, is on trial in the WA Supreme Court accused of murdering 18-year-old secretary Sarah Spiers, whose body has never been found, childcare worker Ms Rimmer, 23, and solicitor Ms Glennon, 27, in 1996 and 1997.
Prosecutor Carmel Barbagallo told the court the families were concerned about confronting details, which they have been spared from for more than 20 years, being widely shared with the public.
"In ordinary circumstances, family members would not know the minutiae of a post-mortem," Ms Barbagallo said on Thursday.
"They would not know what's been done, what's been kept, how it's been examined multiple times ... they have been spared that detail over the years."
Justice Stephen Hall agreed to impose a temporary suppression order on the evidence of the lead forensic pathologist in the case Karin Margolius, as well as forensic pathologist Clive Cooke and forensic anthropologist Alana Buck.
It means details about the victims' injuries and cause of death cannot be reported by the media.
The suppression order also extends to members of the public, with Justice Hall warning it would be contempt of court to communicate the details with anyone, including posting on social media.
Justice Hall will later determine which parts of the evidence can be published.
Forensic dentist Stephen Knott was the first witness called to testify on Thursday and said he confirmed the identities of Ms Rimmer and Ms Glennon at the mortuary after taking X-rays.
Dr Knott said he wore protective clothing including overalls, boots, gloves and probably a mask for each examination.
"I was only involved with the oral area. I wasn't involved with anything else," he testified.
Asked whether he touched Ms Rimmer's hair, Dr Knott replied: "I don't believe I did. I can't remember exactly that but I wouldn't have needed to."
Dr Knott said if he did happen to touch her hair it would have been "very, very slightly, might be just to rotate the head".
He said he did not touch Ms Glennon's hair either.
Dr Knott said the victims' dentists, who also attended, did not touch them at all.
Current mortuary manager Tony Wight, who attended both post-mortems, echoed the testimony of others when he said DNA technology was "very much in its infancy" at the time.
Video footage played in court, but not viewed by the public gallery, showed at one stage he picked up his gloves from the floor.
"It looks like it but I don't know whether I reused them or threw them in a bin," he said.
"I don't recall anything about this day."
Statements made by Dr Margolius, who has since died, were read in court during the afternoon.
Dr Cooke also took the stand.
Edwards denies committing the murders, but admits abducting and twice raping a 17-year-old girl he dragged through Karrakatta Cemetery in 1995 and attacking an 18-year-old woman as she slept in her Huntingdale home in 1988.
His defence team argues evidence contamination is a possibility.
Australian Associated Press
