KEY POINTS:
Liam James Reid has given his account of the morning Christchurch woman Emma Agnew was murdered, and says he was buying drugs at the time and never met her.
"I've never met her. I've never driven anywhere with her," the 36-year-old this afternoon told the High Court at Christchurch where he faces charges of murder, rape, and attempted murder.
"When I woke up on November 15, I had no idea I would get framed for murder two weeks later," he told the jury.
On that morning, his partner had broken up with him again. He said that as she was driving away, she had smiled at him and he had thrown a stone at her car. He was angry they had split up so often.
After she drove off, he went back inside the backpackers he was staying at, and stewed.
He then went to two addresses to try to find his partner, and walked into the city. He sent her several texts.
He then went to get drugs. He saw a friend in a car and drove around with him for an hour while they bought drugs. He would not name the man.
Asked if he took P (methamphetamine), Reid replied: "Absolutely."
He said he took it by injection because "it's the best way to have it as far as I am concerned".
Reid then picked up a needle and syringe at the needle exchange in the city and returned to the backpackers to take the drugs. The midday news came on while he was there, he said.
Defence counsel David Bunce said Reid's account of the morning covered the period when Miss Agnew had disappeared. Reid replied that he had not seen her, had never met her, and had not driven her to Spencerville, where her body was found 11 days later.
He recounted being "pretty wired" after taking the P.
"My mind was 100 miles an hour, and then I went into town."
The 36-year-old accused today took the stand in his own defence against the charges he is facing.
He also told how at one stage he "just snapped" and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
Reid is accused of raping and killing Miss Agnew in Christchurch on November 15 last year and then raping and attempting to kill a Dunedin student nine days later.
Reid earlier told the jury of his tumultuous relationship with his former partner who has testified that Reid admitted to her that he killed the "deaf girl" and raped and attempted to kill another woman.
Reid said he and his former partner had lived together in Milton on and off for a period last year during which they both used cannabis and took BZP tablets and also sold them to locals.
However Reid said he had lost count of the number of times he had broken up and then reconciled with his former partner.
He said sex was a big part of their complex relationship.
"She liked the thought of being raped and controlled," Reid said.
"She liked being tied up in bed and strangled.
"She liked being cut, she liked being hit, she like being degraded, she liked forceful rough sex."
Reid said if he did not meet her sexual needs, "to put it mildly you would lose your job".
He said if you didn't give her what she wanted you would be discarded.
Reid told of a contract he made with his former partner: "She would dump me every five minutes and basically I just got sick of it and I said to her 'you know I reckon it would be fair, if you kept dumping me like this I should just be able to make you stay with me for 24 hours so that I can punish you and kick your ass, basically for mucking me around emotionally'."
Reid said she agreed to this. On one occasion Reid said he suffered from a blood infection which led to him being taken to hospital and "put on the critical list".
After recovering and being released Reid said he had to fend off a number of angry people who had picked up on rumours that he had a contagious virus and may have infected other people.
As a result of this Reid said he "just snapped" and was admitted to a psychiatric hospital where he stayed for about one-and-a-half weeks.
Reid's defence now plan to call four witnesses. The trial is expected to continue until next week.
- additional reporting by NZPA
