A Maketū father on trial accused of murdering his 2-year-old daughter has told a jury her death was his "worst nightmare".
Those were the words of Aaron George Izett, 38, who is on trial in the High Court at Rotorua for the murder of Nevaeh Ager at Little Waihi between March 20 and 21 last year.
Izett made the comment yesterday as his defence lawyer Julie-Anne Kincade QC began questioning him about the events leading up to the day his daughter was killed.
The toddler's body was found on the tidal flats in Little Waihi estuary by police who were called to a Tio Place property on March 21 last year due to Izett's erratic behaviour.
The Crown alleges Izett, who admits being a regular user of methamphetamine and cannabis, murdered his daughter during a "meth rage".
His other defence lawyer Nicholas Chisnall urged the jury to find the accused not guilty of murdering his daughter by reason of insanity at the time of the assaults.
Kincade QC asked Izett how he was feeling in the days leading up to Nevaeh's death.
Izett replied "insane" and said he was hearing voices and a being talking to him.
"This being introduced itself and it became obvious it was going to harm me ... The being was saying everything is true and then went onto say we will have to kill you."
Izett said it was more than just voices, he was having "a full mental breakdown".
He also said it was because of the extreme stress he and his family were under with facing eviction from his nan's old homestead, that his mental state deteriorated.
After attempts to negotiate with the landowners, the Te Arawa Lakes Trust, to stay at the property, Izett and his partner were served with trespass notices on January 30 2019.
The deadline to leave was February 5 but were still at the property on March 21, 2019.
Izett said he and his mother believed the property was under a 99-year lease, not a licence to occupy when he and his partner moved there in September 2018.
"We faced with having to live in our car, and it was really distressing and stressful."
Aaron George Izett, 38, on trial in the High Court at Rotorua. Photo / File
Nevaeh's mother Alyson Ager gave birth to her and Izett's son on March 18 last year.
Two days later Ager's great-grandparents John and Nicky Sturgess brought some items to the house for the new baby and offered to take Nevaeh with them to see her mother.
Izett refused and during a heated exchange, John Sturgess was allegedly assaulted.
"I agree the house was a mess ... I felt they were trying to tell me how to organise my life."
Izett said he felt "disrespected" and angry but did not believe he was in a sound frame of mind as his demeanour and reactions were "not normal".
"Punching John was out of character as he was an old man to him."
Izett wept when asked to comment about not allowing Nevaeh to go with her great-grandparents to visit her mother and the new baby in Tauranga Hospital.
"I wish they had taken Nevaeh. Not a day goes by that I wish they did. It's my worst nightmare. I never expected this would have happened, no one did," he said.
The court has also heard that Izett was arrested on February 4, 2019, for disorderly behaviour due to his odd demeanour outside the Phoenix Bar on The Strand in Tauranga.
Police found a small amount of methamphetamine and a glass pipe in his backpack.
CCTV footage was played to the jury of his February 4 actions and subsequent arrest.
Izett said from his actions there was "clearly some degree of intoxication" either from P or cannabis, and he remembered having a cannabis joint on the drive to Tauranga.
The court heard Izett was held in custody overnight and stayed awake the entire time and appeared to be shadow fighting with someone in a pose like a ninja in his cell.
When medically assessed Izett claimed the police were trying to poison him and he was diagnosed as suffering from acute methamphetamine intoxication and had to be sedated.
After his arrest for murder on March 21, 2019, Izett spent time in a mental health facility in Hamilton under a compulsory treatment order and was discharged on April 15 last year.
Izett was also asked about some big holes in the spare room at the Tio Place property.
"Growing up we were told that there were family heirlooms or taonga placed under these floorboards."
Izett said if evicted he did not want to leave them behind, so he used a crowbar to rip up the floorboards and found three gold bars.
Izett is also defending charges of assaulting his neighbour Jacob Reid on March 18, 2019, and biting a police officer during his arrest three days later.
Reid has given evidence that Izett whacked him over the back of his neck with a sharp object, but Izett claimed Reid fell over and cut himself on some pruning shears.
Izett's other defence lawyer Nicholas Chisnall told the jury that the critical issue was to determine Izett's state of mind at the time of his daughter was killed.
He said the jury's key task was to decide whether Izett was "labouring from a disease of the mind" and therefore not able to understand the true nature of the alleged offences.
Chisnall said Izett did not shy away from the fact that he was a regular user of P and cannabis and it was a factor that had some relevance to the jury's deliberations.
He said the Crown must prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt and if the jury was not certain of Izett's guilt he should be found not guilty.
