Takeaway murder trial: Fatal stabbing happened 'in one second'

Gurjinder Singh (R) and Amandeep Kaur (L) allegedly killed 35-year-old Davinder Singh, who was married to Kaur at the time. Photo / Richard Robinson

A jury has watched a tearful police interview in which a woman accused of murdering her husband said the stabbing, by a stranger, happened "in one second".

Amandeep Kaur, 32, is on trial before the High Court at Auckland after allegedly killing 35-year-old Davender Singh in August last year.

But the Crown said the man involved in the attack that night was her lover Gurjinder Singh, 27.

It is alleged the married couple parked their car outside the Manukau Events Centre on Norman Spencer Drive before Gurjinder Singh arrived.

In an interview with police the day after the incident, Kaur said a man approached, grabbed the victim's cell phone, stabbed him and fled on foot.

But the Crown said the attack was far from impromptu, having been planned through a series of hand-written notes between the defendants in the weeks prior.

It is alleged Gurjinder Singh had followed them in his car and struck when the couple were talking.

During Kaur's first interview - played for the jury this morning - she told officers the incident happened in "very fast time".

She could not recall how the knife was held but demonstrated on the interviewer how she held her husband in the aftermath.

"I don't know how it's possible," Kaur said through tears.

Instead of calling emergency services, the defendant called her husband's cousin.

The Crown said there was a deliberate delay in calling for help to allow Gurjinder Singh to make his escape, but Kaur explained her actions.

"I didn't understand what I had to do - I called my husband's cousin. He's very close to us," she said.

"My husband is a nice person, a really nice person."

Further interviews will also be played for the jury in which Kaur tells police her co-accused was the one who stabbed her husband.

Gurjinder Singh's lawyer David Niven denied his client had any knowledge or intention regarding a plan to kill on that day, nor was he at the scene when the fatal wound was inflicted.

Crown prosecutor Natalie Walker said the defendants had begun an affair months before Davender Singh's throat was slit.

After 130 calls and more than 1000 text messages in the space of three months, it is alleged their respective partners discovered the relationship and electronic communication between the couple ceased.

But their contact continued in the form of hand-written notes.

Most importantly, the Crown said the plan to murder Davender Singh was clearly apparent through those letters, which will be presented as evidence during the trial.

The trial continues.