Murder accused Dean Mulligan told police shortly after his arrest that the blows he struck to Marice McGregor were intentional, not accidental, as he had had previously claimed.
Mulligan, 43, is on trial in the High Court at Wanganui for the murder of Ms McGregor, whose body was recovered on May13 last year from a ravine at what is known as Whiskey Corner off State Highway 4, 50km north of Wanganui.
The Crown alleges Ms McGregor was killed by three blows to the head with an iron bar.
Mulligan has pleaded not guilty to murder.
This morning, the jury was played the remaining video footage of Mulligan's interview with Detective David Burmeister, made after he was arrested and transported back to Wanganui.
In it, Mulligan said he "flew into a rage" after an argument with Ms McGregor and in that moment formed the intention to hit her and kill her, but had not planned to hit her when they visited the ravine.
The court also heard from Detective Senior Sergeant Neil Forlong, the officer in charge of the case, who told the jury he had been given a note from Mulligan two weeks before the trial started containing the names of two men he claimed were responsible for Ms McGregor's death.
Inquiries into the names had been unsuccessful.
In his opening statements at the beginning of the trial, defence counsel Stephen Ross said Mulligan would take the stand to give evidence in his defence, to tell the court he did not kill Ms McGregor.
"In his evidence he will tell you the name of the person who killed her, the person who was responsible for her death. This person was an associate of Marice," Mr Ross said.
Mulligan had only confessed to police out of fear for the safety of his wife and children and that he "wove a tissue of lies".
The defence is expected to open its case this afternoon.
Dean Mulligan, the man accused of murdering Marice McGregor, took the stand late on Wednesday. For full coverage of the day's court proceedings, check out Thursday's Wanganui Chronicle.
