Body sealed in a barrel, Crown alleges

No questions were asked and no information was offered when a Palmerston North man welded the lid on to his friend's steel drum - with the body of Whetu Hansen inside, the Crown alleges.

The man, who has name suppression, told the High Court at Palmerston North 57-year-old Linton man Neil Raymond Swain came to his workshop on December 3, 2013, with a 44-gallon drum and asked him to cut the top off it.

A little over a week earlier, on November 24, Mr Hansen died at Swain's Akers Rd property.

The defence case is that Mr Hansen arrived there already fatally wounded and died a short time later, with Swain then storing the body and disposing of it. The Crown says Swain was the killer, alleging he shot Mr Hansen about five times during an argument.

Crown prosecutor Ben Vanderkolk said Swain put Mr Hansen's body inside the drum and, after having his friend weld the lid on, dumped it in the Whanganui River.

Mr Hansen's body has never been found.

The witness yesterday told the court Swain returned to the workshop on December 4 and asked him to weld the top back on the drum.

"Did I notice anything inside the drum? To me it looked like heavy industrial plastic," the witness said.

He said he didn't ask any questions and Swain did not offer any information. However, Swain returned later in the day, announcing "something along the lines of 'That n***** won't steal off me any more'," the witness said.

He said Swain told him he'd dumped the drum in the Whanganui River.

The man said he'd replied "something along the lines of I didn't want to hear it.

"I probably told him to f*** off again. I just carried on working."

Defence lawyer Mike Antunovic accused the witness of making up "nonsense evidence", suggesting Swain never returned to the workshop later that day.

He said evidence showed Swain's cellphone to be in Wanganui around the time the man said Swain showed up at the Palmerston North workshop.

Mr Antunovic also pointed out that the witness only told police about that encounter in October 2014 and made no mention of it in earlier statements.

He said the witness was under pressure from police indicating he could be an accessory to murder. The witness said that was correct.

"I put it to you, sir, that what you did in response was simply make up this nonsense evidence of yours that Neil Swain came back to your factory . . . and told you those things," Mr Antunovic said.

The witness disagreed.

The trial, before Justice Brendan Brown, continues.