KEY POINTS:
The mother of the murdered Kahui twins, Macsyna King, allegedly told a former lover, "Chris didn't do it. I did," before punching a wall and sobbing on the ground.
Eruera Tuari yesterday told the double murder trial of Chris Kahui he heard what he thought was a confession
from Ms King when he visited her in January last year.
Kahui denies murdering his sons on June 12, 2006, and his defence team has begun calling witnesses.
Kahui says someone else, probably Ms King, inflicted the twins' fatal injuries.
Mr Tuari dated Ms King for two months at the start of 2007 and says he walked into a bedroom and found her crying and "all over the place".
In the ensuing conversation she allegedly told him: "Chris didn't do it. I did." When he asked what she meant, she replied, "Never mind, f*** it," and then punched a wall.
Mr Tuari said when he walked into the room, she was on her knees crying. "She was out of it, I suppose. Angry."
The next day he discovered he had made a recording of part of their conversation on his cellphone and, after listening to it, realised she might have been confessing to the murders.
He said the recording was deleted before police could examine the phone.
Kahui's defence lawyer Michelle Wilkinson-Smith asked him why he waited for months to tell police.
Mr Tuari said he saw Kahui on television, awaiting his murder trial, and felt sorry for him.
But crown prosecutor Richard Marchant challenged him on his recollection of events, suggesting he had gone into the room hoping to find out what Ms King knew about the deaths.
Mr Marchant said Ms King never admitted killing the twins.
Mr Tuari said he had assumed "Chris didn't do it. I did" was a confession but she had not actually admitted the killings.
Mr Marchant put it to him that he was lying to get back at Ms King for taking up with a good friend of his.
Mr Tuari: It doesn't matter what you say. It was true, I know.
Kahui's teenage sister, Eva Kahui, told the court she found the twins' faces covered with bruises when she visited on the Sunday and partly concealed by make-up.
She said the babies' faces looked as if they had foundation on them because they were "shiny" and the bruises were fading.
Defence lawyer Lorraine Smith asked her how that made her feel and she replied "shocked and curious".
When Miss Kahui asked what caused the bruises, Ms King said it was from pinching their cheeks, a process known as chubbing. Miss Kahui said she did not believe that explanation.
In cross-examination, Mr Marchant asked her if she was confused about when she saw the bruises and she told him she could be.
He put it to her that she thought the babies' faces looked as if they had foundation on them because they were browner, to which she agreed.
"You can't be sure [it was foundation] because you didn't try to rub it off, did you?" he asked.
She said she had never tried rubbing it off.