Riverhead quarry attack case: One year on, accused Colin Mitchell speaks

Colin Jack Mitchell at the Auckland District Court last year.

The man accused of abducting a woman in central Auckland and attacking her at a stone quarry in Riverhead has spoken publicly, saying he was watching Garfield on TV on the night the events unfolded.

It's a year since a 23-year-old woman was found bloodied and beaten following a violent assault in Auckland.

On Monday, the alleged attacker, Colin Jack Mitchell, took the witness stand in the High Court of Auckland.

Mitchell is defending charges of abduction, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and assault with intent to commit sexual violation after the alleged incident last year.

The Crown alleges that on February 26 Mitchell kidnapped a woman from Grey Lynn, took her to a stone quarry in Riverhead and assaulted her.

They say police found a glove at the scene which was tested by forensic experts, and DNA was found that would later be linked to Mitchell.

Defence lawyer Mark Ryan said Mitchell had elected to give evidence.

"He doesn't have to," Ryan said.

"He has decided to tell you his version of events, and his narrative …"

At the conclusion of Mitchell's evidence yesterday, Crown Prosecutor Kirsten Lummis suggested that he was "making it up" as he went along.

From the witness stand, Mitchell told the court he had been inside watching television on the night of February 25 last year.

"I was watching TV, Garfield was on TV, Garfield One," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he watched another programme afterwards.

"It was a programme with English detectives… it seemed silly to me," he said adding that he would have started playing cards on the computer.

Mitchell said he would have gone down to Onehunga wharf to soak his legs if the tide was right to help relieve some of the pain he still experienced from an old injury.

He was crushed by a 780kg coil in 2011, he said.

"I still struggle walking and with stairs."

"My left leg is partly numb at the bottom, one side's OK, the other's not - pinched nerve."

He also said he later went to a park in Avondale to rest his legs and relax.

Ryan asked if he had gone to Great North Rd on February 25.

Mitchell said he would not have because he would have wanted to avoid the crowds.

"Even being a truck driver, I don't like heavy traffic."

Ryan asked if Mitchell had travelled to Riverhead that night.

"No, I've never been up there in my own car," Mitchell said.

As a part of the defence case, Ryan asked Mitchell if he had ever tried on gloves while shopping.

Mitchell said he had tried on gloves while shopping because it was important to be able to feel what he was doing through his gloves when working.

"If you do something wrong you can injure other people," he said about his work.

"I've got to be good at my job."

He recalled trying on gloves in the Warehouse but decided not to buy them.

Mitchell said they were "not satisfactory".

During the Crown's cross-examination Lummis suggested Mitchell had disposed of a towbar cover on his car.

She said police had photos of his car with a chrome cover on it dated from March 8, 2017.

Mitchell was arrested on March 12 but police did not find a chrome cover.

Mitchell said he had never had a chrome cover on his car and could not explain the photos.

"Precisely, what did you do with the chrome cover, Mitchell?" Lummis said.

"You were still aware the Riverhead inquiry was heating up and you took that chrome towbar cover off didn't you?"

Mitchell said he did not.

Lummis suggested Mitchell "knew exactly" what he was doing in the early hours of February 26 and that was cruising around in his car in Mt Eden.

Mitchell said he was not.

"You're not sure because it's all a pack of lies isn't it?" Lummis said.

"You were not in some park in Avondale you were in Riverhead?"

Mitchell denied being at Riverhead at the time of the incident.

Mitchell had told the jury how the next morning he had intended on going to an Otara flea market early but "being stupid" had forgotten it was not held on Sunday mornings.

"I had to think for a while and then I thought not to waste time I could go back to work and clean my car.

"I hadn't cleaned it for a while."

Mitchell said he was not allowed to wash his car at his property, so did so at work.

Lummis asked Mitchell if he had driven all the way to the flea market before realising there would not be one.

Mitchell said he had not, he had realised his mistake because he bumped into a somebody he recognised from attending other flea markets – someone he did not know by name.

Mitchell said he must have stopped to get a drink at a petrol station or dairy, and that was when he saw this person.

"I would have been buying a drink because I get thirsty quite a bit."

Lummis said Mitchell had been interviewed by police on March 10 and knew then he had to think about what happened on February 26.

And when he was arrested by police two days later, again Mitchell knew he had to think about what he had done on February 26, she said.

And yet Mitchell was giving this extra detail about stopping for a drink now, she said.

Mitchell said he had remembered more as it came back to him and certain things she said had triggered his memory.

"I suggest you can't remember because you are making it up as you go along," she said.

Mitchell denied making up his account.