KEY POINTS:
The man accused of murdering a Wanganui barmaid on her 20th birthday says a scratch he got on his chest and neck the day of her death was caused by his dog.
Shane Daniel Randle, 28, is accused of murdering Tania Rebecka McKenzie, whose naked body was found floating in Whanganui River on January 7, 2005. He also faces two charges of sexually violating her.
Randle has pleaded not guilty and is on trial in the High Court at Wellington.
A post mortem examination revealed Ms McKenzie died from multiple crushing injuries to her face and head, with multiple facial and skull fractures and lacerations to her brain.
Randle, who worked as a bouncer at the Red Lion Inn where Ms McKenzie was a barmaid, was the last person seen with her in the early hours of January 7. He says he walked her home but they parted ways before she was killed.
At the time Randle was having a relationship with Dana Perry, another Red Lion barmaid, though he was living with another woman.
Ms Perry told the court today she had left the Red Lion about 1am on January 7.
She was "quite drunk" and was feeling left out and grumpy because it was Ms McKenzie's birthday and she was getting all the attention from Randle and others.
Later on January 7 Randle texted her to say "the pigs" had pulled a body out of the river. He arrived at her house about 2pm that day and almost immediately showed her a scratch on his chest and check.
"He said 'look, my dog scratched me'," Ms Perry told the court.
Randle told her he, Ms McKenzie and another colleague had been in the city after leaving the Red Lion when they were invited to a party.
"He said that he and Tania were going to go to a party but they went to her house so that she could change her shoes, but then he got sick so he watched her walk inside and then he walked home."
Randle told her, he showered when he got home, she said.
When Ms Perry went to work that night she was told the body in the river was a 20-year-old woman.
"Because Tania hadn't turned up for work everyone was kind of panicking a bit."
During the police investigation conversations between Randle and others were bugged and these were played to the jury and Justice Ronald Young on headsets.
A transcript of one of the conversations showed the following exchange:
Unidentified male: "Nah isn't that where you f***en killed her man. That's where you cut her throat wasn't it, no that's where you hold her down smashing her face in"
Dana Perry: "That's where you chopped her fingers off"
Shane Randle: "Nah this is where I was, this is where I was holding a pile of hair going like this," followed by laughter.
The trial is continuing.
- NZPA
