Stepdaughter recounts day Kate Alkema died

12.05pm

The stepdaughter of Kate Alkema had intended to accompany Ms Alkema on the walk where she met her violent death, the High Court at Wellington was told today.

Kelly Alkema tearfully told the court she had called her parents' home hoping to catch her stepmother before she left on her usual Saturday morning walk.

Later that day Mrs Alkema was found strangled by a black strap in bush near the Hutt River.

Nika Abraham, 21, is accused of killing Mrs Alkema last April 13 by strangling her.

Constantly fighting back tears, Ms Alkema told the court she had skipped her usual Saturday morning gym class and called her stepmother.

"...I wanted to see if Kate was going on a walk so I could go with her."

Ms Alkema described how her father had telephoned her and how they both became increasingly concerned when Mrs Alkema did not return home.

Eventually, Ms Alkema and her father, Peter Alkema, launched a search with other family members.

Using an overhead projected map, Ms Alkema described the route from Avalon Park under the Kennedy Good Bridge and along the Hutt River bank.

Ms Alkema was very emotional throughout the evidence. Mrs Alkema had moved into the Alkema family home when Ms Alkema was about seven years old.

"I called her Kate but she's my mum...

"I don't know how to describe her. She was an amazing person...I was really close to her."

Earlier in the morning Mr Alkema, being cross-examined by defence lawyer Bryan Yeoman, told the court about Mrs Alkema's depression.

He said he and his wife had had marriage counselling and Mrs Alkema had had further personal counselling.

"She was a bit suicidal at that time," Mr Alkema said.

However, there had been no on-going problems for more than five years.

In her evidence, Ms Alkema told the court her step-mother was a very happy person and often talked about how much she loved her family.

"They had an amazing relationship... She always said how much she loved us," she said.

While questioning Mr Alkema, Mr Yeoman asked about a self-defence course Mrs Alkema and her step-daughter had done some years ago.

Mr Alkema said his wife had learned self-defence techniques and was an observant and alert person.

Mr Yeoman also questioned Mr Alkema about how long the walk planned that morning would have taken.

A reconstruction of the walk by Mr Alkema and a police officer, walking at the pace they believed Mrs Alkema would have walked, found it took less than the two hours Mrs Alkema had predicted.

- NZPA