Accused admitted killing girlfriend, witness tells court

Gordon Hieatt. Photo / Natalie Slade

A man accused of murdering his Thai sex worker girlfriend admitted the killing to another woman he had been seeing in Thailand, a jury heard today.

Gordon, 47, a self employed computer programmer, has pleaded not guilty in the High Court at Auckland to murdering of Nuttidar Vaikaew, 48, a Thai sex worker.

The court today heard from Pranom Khotngao, who was flown from Thailand to give evidence at his trial.

She told the court she met Hieatt on an online dating website and he visited her three times in Thailand.

She said that he spoke to her via online messaging service MSN when he was back in Auckland and told her he had killed Ms Vaikaew after they had a big fight.

She said the message said: "She made me crazy. I think she wanted to die and made me do it."

Ms Khotngao said she was worried Hieatt would kill himself so she tried to calm him down but he said "she's dead, nobody can fix that".

"I don't think I'll be able to see you again, I should have stayed with you, I'm sorry," he told her.

The prosecution have alleged that Hieatt killed Ms Vaikaew last year and left her body in her Western Springs, Auckland, apartment where it was found in a badly decomposed state.

- NZPA