Murder-accused Nika Arthur Abraham told police he had only meant to frighten Kate Alkema, the same way he had seen actors do in horror movies.
Abraham, 20, appeared at a Lower Hutt District Court depositions hearing today charged with killing Mrs Alkema, on April 13 near the Hutt River.
The court was
played two videotapes of interviews between Detective Constable Scott Middlemiss and Abraham on April 23.
In one interview, Abraham admitted his part in the attack, which left Mrs Alkema, 36, dead and partly naked under bushes near the river.
Abraham said in the interview he was walking his puppy along the Hutt River area, not far from his house on Pharazyn St, just after 9.30am on the day of the killing.
He sat down on some concrete blocks and when he looked up, saw Mrs Alkema who had been on a walk and was on her way home.
He followed her and jumped her from behind.
"All I wanted to do was frighten her, before I knew it, I knew I had absolutely done something wrong ... " he told Mr Middlemiss.
"... I just walked behind her ... I fought with her, I was just supposed to give her a fright ... my mind just blanked out, and (the next thing) she was on the ground, her face was all blue ..."
He had heard her say "please don't do this" and he had said "I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm doing."
He told Mr Middlemiss he got the idea to frighten someone from horror movies and television programmes.
"I see it on TV a lot ... I just wondered what it was like ... people, giving them a fright, spooking them ... like on (the movie) Friday The Thirteenth, how people scare each other on there."
He had not recently watched a video of the movie, but had "thought about giving it (frightening someone) a try" in the weeks leading up to the murder.
He wanted to see how the person he frightened reacted, for example if they screamed. "I thought it might be fun", he said.
Abraham outlined how he had pulled a bag strap he had on his hand around Mrs Alkema's neck and then she had stopped breathing.
He claimed he had tried to remove the strap from her as she was dying, but could not get it off.
He told Mr Middlemiss he needed to conceal what he had done and pulled her by her pants and the strap, still fastened around her neck by a knot, to "the first bushes I could see".
He had "tried to make it look like a sexual assault" by pulling her pants and underwear down and her top up to expose her midriff.
He also picked grass and leaves to try and cover her up.
He stole a green jacket she had tied around her waist and took it home with him.
Today's evidence was presented before a packed public gallery of friends and family of Mrs Alkema. Abraham sat beside his lawyer Bryan Yeoman, and looked down at the floor while the videos were played.
Grant Burston appeared for the police.
The depositions hearing, before Justices of the Peace Bill East and Graham Harlen, is to continue tomorrow.
- NZPA
Murder-accused Nika Arthur Abraham told police he had only meant to frighten Kate Alkema, the same way he had seen actors do in horror movies.
Abraham, 20, appeared at a Lower Hutt District Court depositions hearing today charged with killing Mrs Alkema, on April 13 near the Hutt River.
The court was
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