A Rotorua man stabbed his drinking partner to death after he started "conjuring up the gods", a court has heard.
The retrial of Christopher Allan Heenan, 54, began in the High Court at Rotorua this morning in front of Justice Raynor Asher.
Heenan, who worked as a carver, artist and tattooist, is charged with murdering 36-year-old Rotorua man Raukawa Newton on October 11, 2007.
This morning, Justice Asher told the jury the case was a retrial but they should not speculate on the reasons for that.
"What happened in that [first] trial is irrelevant."