Focus: ‘House of horrors’ duo found guilty of teen's murder and kidnapping. Photos / Doug Sherring / Sam Hurley
Warning: This story contains graphic and violent content.
A veteran police officer touched what looked like human skin with the back of his hand through a tear in some black plastic, dumped in a rusty steel drum.
It was a miserable night - cold, dark, windy and raining.
Senior Sergeant Matthew Child had been tasked with looking for a body at an abandoned state home in South Auckland.
She was also allegedly tortured before her body was hidden in the drum.
Ashley Winter, also known as Toko Shane Rei Winter, 29, and Kerry Te Amo, 25, are on trial, accused of kidnapping, torturing and murdering Pairama.
Pairama may have also met three other police officers before her death. They knocked on the door of the vacant Housing New Zealand property on Buckland Rd the day before her body was found on July 8 last year.
They were met at the door by a young crying woman.
Dimetrius Pairama's body was found in a vacant house in South Auckland. Photo / Supplied
Constables Riki Naera, Charley Kirkman and Dice Scanlan had arrived at the property at about 9.45am on July 7.
Naera told the court the trio went to the house to obtain a statement from a woman named Ashleigh Tonga.
He said he could hear people moving inside the house but it was a while before anyone answered their knocks on the door.
A young woman opened, Naera said, she was or had been crying.
The officers asked if the young woman, whom prosecutors believe was Pairama, wished to walk to the police car to continue their conversation.
After the fight, Senior Sergeant Child and two other constables were tasked with searching for a body at the Buckland Rd house.
It was about 10.30pm on a Sunday.
"It was a pretty miserable night - cold, dark, windy, raining," Child told the court.
After clearing the back of the property one of the officers went inside the building through a window to search.
"The house was in a very poor state. It looked like it had rough sleepers at a time - holes in the walls, carpet missing, doors missing, graffiti on the walls," Child said.
"Something that still stands out is the smell ... you could almost taste it more than anything else. Almost a burnt smell."
A teenager, who has been granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for giving evidence, is expected to tell the court what she saw and heard at the Buckland Rd home, Walker said.
Winter, a transgender woman, has pleaded guilty to kidnapping but denies murdering Pairama.
Te Amo has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Their trial is expected to last three to four weeks.