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The man charged with killing deaf woman Emma Agnew allegedly told his girlfriend he raped and killed her, did not regret it and would do it again.
The girlfriend, whose name is suppressed, told the Christchurch District Court she confronted murder accused Liam James Reid about what he had done, as he became increasingly paranoid and emotional in the days after Miss Agnew was killed.
"He looked straight at me and said yes, he had killed the girl," the girlfriend said in court.
"I said 'do you mean Emma Agnew?'
"He said 'yes.'
"I said 'did you rape her?' He said 'yes.'
"I asked where her body was. He didn't tell me.
"He said that he had snapped, he said he didn't regret it and he would do it again."
Reid was unhappy his girlfriend was breaking up with him, hurling a stone at her car, on the morning before he allegedly killed Ms Agnew, the court also heard.
Reid, 35, is accused of raping and suffocating Miss Agnew, 20, last November, before partially concealing her body in scrub about 15km north of Christchurch.
Police say cellphone analysis and fingerprints linked Reid to Miss Agnew and the car she was trying to sell prior to her death.
Reid's former girlfriend said an incident on the night of November 14 had led to her deciding to leave Reid.
The following day, when police believe Miss Agnew was murdered, the woman said she was walking to her car with Reid when he confronted her.
"He said 'you are going to leave me, aren't you?' And I said yes.
"He wasn't happy. I got straight in the car to leave, and he hopped in the car, and I asked him to get out, and I left immediately."
As she drove off, the woman said Reid threw a stone at her car door, and it hit the car.
The woman said she met Reid through a friend in at beginning of 2007 and they began having a relationship about September that year.
During their relationship Reid spent some time living in Milton, South Otago, and his girlfriend had visited him there.
Earlier today, police fingerprint expert Brent Patrick Wilson testified that he identified two palm prints from Miss Agnew's car as those on police records from Julian Edgecumbe, Reid's former name.
"I have no doubt whatsoever they were made by the same person,' Mr Wilson said.
Fingerprints had been taken from Miss Agnew's Mazda Familia which was found burning in Bromley Park, Christchurch on the night she was allegedly attacked by Reid near Spencer Park, north of the city.
The depositions hearing, to determine if there is enough evidence for Reid to stand trial, is before Justices of the Peace, Nick Atkins and John O'Hara and in its second day.
It may last up to five days.
- With NZPA
