Devil's Henchman denies killing Lisa Blakie

A patched member of the Timaru Devil's Henchmen gang said yesterday that he ended his relationship with Lisa Blakie shortly before her violent death, and after she had been to a party organised by the rival Road Knights gang.

But Nathan Williams told the Christchurch District Court that he did not kill Ms Blakie, who was found strangled and stabbed, face down in the Porter River on February 6 last year.

Mr Williams was giving evidence in the depositions hearing of Timothy David Taylor, aged 31, who is accused of picking her up as she hitch-hiked from Christchurch to Greymouth on February 2, then murdering her, motivated by sex and robbery.

Ms Blakie's father, Doug Blakie, earlier told the court that on February 1 he received a call from her in which she was crying and upset, and said she had to get out of Timaru for her own safety.

The previous night he overheard a heated telephone conversation between Ms Blakie and a man he took to be Mr Williams.

Mr Blakie suggested taking her to the police but she replied: "No, you can't, Dad. They know where you live."

Instead he drove her to a friend's home in Christchurch, where she planned to travel to Greymouth to earn enough money to fly to Australia.

Mr Williams said he had associated with Ms Blakie for about six weeks before her murder, including spending a week with her in Queenstown. During that time, she had paid for him to stay in a hotel and partied with him when she was not working at a massage parlour.

"We were just sexual partners, not boyfriend and girlfriend, and we got on fine," he said.

They had some minor disagreements but their relationship faltered because she wanted them to be girlfriend and boyfriend.

He later learned that she attended a party in Timaru organised by the Road Knights, a rival gang to the Devil's Henchmen. But he was not angered by it, and instead thought the news was "quite funny."

On the day of her death, Mr Williams said he was "doing my housework," then attended a Devil's Henchman club night in Timaru.

Asked if he had anything to do with the death of Ms Blakie, he replied: "No I did not."

The hearing continues today.

- NZPA