Crown says murder accused’s car damaged when it hit Blessie Gotingco.
A glazier noticed a patch of blood while repairing a car allegedly used to mow down an Auckland mother of three before she was raped and killed.
The trial for the 27-year-old man accused of Blessie Gotingco's murder - who has name suppression but whose image is allowed to be published - began in the High Court at Auckland this week.
South Auckland auto-windscreen worker Mike Nelson was called out to an urgent job on the afternoon of May 26 last year.
The man accused of murdering Blessie Gotingco, appearing in the dock at Auckland High Court. File photo / NZ Herald
The Birkdale customer told him he and his mates had been trying to impress some girls when one of the group slipped on the bonnet of the silver BMW and put his backside through the windshield.
But the Crown says the car had sustained the damage because on May 24 it was deliberately driven over the kerb into Mrs Gotingco at such speed that it broke her leg in two places and threw her over the roof.
Prosecutor Michael Walker yesterday told the jury the defendant then threw her into the vehicle and drove to his nearby home in an apartment complex where he raped her, slit her throat and then stabbed her to death.
Mr Nelson said while working on the car he noticed a patch of blood on the top over the passenger's side and "wavy dents" on the bonnet.
There was also fresh blood on the car but the defendant said it was his and showed him a cut on his hand.
Antonio Gotingco (left), the husband of Blesilda 'Blessie' Gotingco, arrives at the High Court in Auckland on day two of the murder trial. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Yesterday's court proceedings began dramatically when the defendant informed the judge he wanted to sack his lawyer, Chris Wilkinson-Smith.
Justice Timothy Brewer told him he was welcome to do so but would have to represent himself for the remainder of the three-week trial.
Despite telling the jury he was reluctant to make an opening statement, he eventually addressed them and said hitting Mrs Gotingco had been an accident.
The defendant said he "panicked" when he bundled her into his car and drove her back to his apartment complex to comply with his 8pm curfew.
Detective Constable Chris Cooper gave evidence of how he contacted the Corrections-run GPS service that monitored the man.
Two days after Mrs Gotingco went missing Mr Cooper was told of the defendant's "significant movement" in Eskdale Cemetery and police descended on the scene with a search and rescue dog team.
Senior Constable Garry Learmonth used a GPS device to reach the spot and spoke of the moment he found the body: "The dog reached down in front of me, put his nose into the bush and grabbed a foot," he said.
Mrs Gotingco, wrapped in a fawn-coloured sheet, was found beneath a pile of scrub, leaves and vines.
Police executed a search warrant on the defendant's address in the early hours of May 27, using a steel battering ram to enter the property.
Detective Sergeant Todd Bartlett said "almost immediately" there was a scream, which led them to the suspect, who was found huddled under a sleeping bag on the couch.
