One-armed murder accused Shane Hoko gave his partner two versions of what happened to 17-year-old Jennifer Hargreaves, the High Court at Auckland was told yesterday.
Hoko, aged 32 of Papakura, is charged with strangling Hargreaves in a ditch on Cuff Rd, Patumahoe, on December 3 last year.
Hoko is also
charged with pulling a gun on a van driver, who tried to intervene. The Crown says the van driver, Brett Muirson, saw a one-armed man lying on top of a woman in a ditch.
Hoko's lawyer, Barry Hart, has accused a Crown witness, Shane Matthews, of being the real murderer. But the prosecution says Mr Matthews had returned home to Henderson by the time the woman was killed.
Hoko's partner, Cherie Anne Buttery, told the court yesterday that Hoko gave her two accounts of the incident.
In the first, he was giving Ms Hargreaves and another hitch-hiker a lift when they stopped in Cuff Rd for Ms Hargreaves to go to the toilet. The other man also got out.
Initially Hoko had said the van pulled up behind and Hoko heard the driver yell out "she better not be dead".
Hoko said he then noticed the other man on top of Ms Hargreaves.
Hoko had said he pointed a gun at the van driver, who left. Hoko, she said, told her that he then pulled the other man off, beat him up and later threw him out of the car.
In a second version, Hoko told Ms Buttery that he noticed what the other man was doing, got out of the car and "gave him a bit of a dong".
Then while he was in the ditch, the van pulled up. Hoko said he pretended to be with the girl, holding her like he was trying to kiss her.
