Daughter ordered accused to go

The daughter of murdered Taumarunui woman Te Miringa Tipene broke down in the High Court at Hamilton yesterday as she recalled how she told her mother's abusive partner to leave.

Nikora Allan Turner has pleaded not guilty to killing Ms Tipene, also known as Milly Dunn, between August 23 and 29 last year.

Ms Tipene's 20-year-old daughter, Kahmil Reyna Dunn, said her mother had a black eye when she visited her a month before her death.

Ms Dunn broke down in court as she recalled telling Turner: "How dare you abuse my mother in her own home."

He replied: "I didn't do it for nothing."

She told Turner he had 10 seconds to leave but after he refused she returned with her friend's parents, Leslie Kapinga and John "Jimmy" Quinlan.

They agreed that Turner would leave the next Wednesday, three days later, once he could organise money and a place to stay.

Jimmy Quinlan had previously told the court that they decided not to interfere when they saw the pair, who had been together for two years, walking happily in Taumarunui's main street just days later, holding hands.

The court heard on Tuesday that a month later Turner and Ms Tipene had a disagreement at a gathering on August 23, the last night she was seen alive.

A resident at the New Rd gathering, Kelly McCord, said they began arguing when Ms Tipene refused to go home.

Under cross-examination from Turner's defence lawyer, Sean Ellis, Ms McCord said Ms Tipene was drinking fast, falling down and arguing with another woman in the house.

Ms McCord told the court Turner wanted her to go home because she had had too much to drink.

When she didn't leave, Turner came looking for her with a baseball bat, but her friends had hidden her.

The police were called and Turner was charged with possession of an offensive weapon and threatening a person at the party.

Later that night he was released on bail. He allegedly returned to the house and beat and strangled Ms Tipene to death.

Six days later, on August 29, Kahmil Dunn went to her mother's house with two friends to borrow a skirt for a funeral.

The door was locked, so her friend climbed in a window and opened another door which had a dryer pushed against it.

Ms Dunn told the court yesterday there was a bad smell in the house. She opened the curtains and windows and discovered her mother lying on a bed in the lounge.

A friend rang the police.

The case is before Justice Grant Hammond.