Blessie Gotingco trial: Accused screamed as police stormed house

Blessie Gotingco's body was found under a mound of debris in an area of pine trees. Photo / Facebook

The man accused of raping and stabbing to death an Auckland mother of three screamed as police rammed down his door and stormed his house to arrest him.

Officers found him huddled under a sleeping bag on his couch before taking him into custody.

The man accused of murdering Blessie Gotingco, appearing in the dock at Auckland High Court. File photo / NZ Herald

The trial for the 27-year-old accused of Mrs Gotingco's murder - who has name suppression but whose image is allowed to be published - began in the High Court at Auckland yesterday.

This afternoon the court heard from Detective Sergeant Todd Bartlett, who was in charge of the unit which executed a search warrant at the defendant's Birkdale address in the early hours of May 27 last year.

He told the jury how they used a steel battering ram to gain entry to the house and "almost immediately" there was a scream which led them to the suspect.

At 12.27pm, he was charged with the murder of Mrs Gotingco.

In its opening yesterday, the Crown said the defendant deliberately ran down Mrs Gotingco in his car, breaking her leg in two places, while she was walking home from work along Salisbury Rd on the evening of May 24.

It is alleged he then threw her into the vehicle and drove to his nearby home in an apartment complex where he raped her, slit her throat and then stabbed her to death.

Her body was found nearly two days later at Eskdale Cemetery.

Today's proceedings began dramatically when the defendant informed the judge he wanted to sack his lawyer.

Justice Timothy Brewer told him he was welcome to do so but would have to represent himself for the remainder of the three-week trial.

Auckland murder victim Blessie Gotingco. Photo / supplied

Despite telling the jury he was reluctant to make an opening statement and wanted a new lawyer, he eventually addressed them to say hitting Mrs Gotingco in his car had been an accident.

The defendant said he "panicked" when he bundled her into his silver BMW and drove her back to his apartment complex to comply with his 8pm curfew.

He also cast doubt on the forensic evidence.

"We're talking about microscopic traces of DNA scientists struggled to isolate and test," he told the jury.

The court heard a tearful statement from Mrs Gotingco's 19-year-old daughter Bessie, whose words eventually had to be read by the court registrar.

She said her mother always looked "immaculate" and recounted how she was the last family member to see her alive.

Police earmarked the defendant as a person of interest only hours after the victim's disappearance and Detective Constable Chris Cooper gave evidence of how he contacted the Corrections-run GPS service that monitored the man.

Antonio Gotingco, the husband of Blessie Gotingco greets supporters outside the Auckland High Court before the trial. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Two days after Mrs Gotingco went missing he was told of the defendant's "significant movement" in Eskdale Cemetery and police descended on the scene with a search and rescue dog team.

Senior Constable Garry Learmonth used a GPS device to reach the spot and spoke of the moment he found the body.

"The dog reached down in front of me, put his nose into the bush and grabbed a foot," he said.

Mrs Gotingco - wrapped in a fawn-coloured sheet - was found beneath a pile of scrub, leaves and vines.

The trial continues.