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.
"It's your fault ... How do you wanna die? You only got 'til three o'clock."
Those were the words allegedly uttered to a teenage girl who was tied up, gagged and tortured at an abandoned state house in South Auckland.
Another girl, a now 15-year-old with immunity from prosecution, was also present.
She told police how Dimetrius Pairama was allegedly murdered and a video of her interview with detectives continues to be played to a High Court jury today.
Pairama's body was found by police in a steel drum at a vacant Housing New Zealand property on Buckland Rd in Māngere on July 8 last year.
Ashley Winter, also known as Toko Shane Rei Winter, 29, and Kerry Te Amo, 25, are on trial, accused of kidnapping, torturing and murdering the 17-year-old.
The teen witness - who cannot be named and was given immunity by the Deputy Solicitor-General - told Detective Constable Frageo (Damon) Petersen she could hear Te Amo beating Pairama.
"[I] saw him go in the room and then I saw him take one punch over here, and then that's when Ashley closed the door and then I heard, like, her bones breaking," she said.
Winter was in charge, the witness said.
"Everyone listens to Ashley."
Winter rummaged in a cupboard and found "chemicals", the teen said.
Pairama, who was also known as Precious, was told to strip naked, before being tied to a chair with rope, and her body burned with a spray can and lighter, she said.
"She was crying ... she just said to stop it please," the teen said Pairama begged.
Winter allegedly said: "It's your fault that I got [suppressed] ... how do you wanna die? Karma is a b*tch'. How do you wanna die? You only got 'til three o'clock."
At three o'clock Pairama was to be stabbed if she didn't choose to be hanged, the teen said.
"Ash said 'let's burn the place up', but there's been a neighbour or something that's said to get outa the house or she'll call the police.
"Ashley wanted to bury her under the house."
The teen witness said the group left at about 1am, having dumped Pairama's body in a rusty, steel drum amongst some weeds.
In a second recorded interview, played to the jury this afternoon, the witness said Winter told the group killing Pairama was "something that had to be done".
Police investigate at the home in Māngere where 17-year-old Dimetrius Pairama was found. Photo / Doug Sherring
Police first began investigating a possible homicide the following day after breaking up a fight near Britomart in central Auckland.
Crown Solicitor at Manukau Natalie Walker said the group who were at the property had turned on each other.
Earlier in the trial the court heard three police officers had knocked on the door of the Buckland Rd house the day before Pairama's body was found.
They were there to obtain a statement from a woman named Ashleigh Tonga.
The officers were met at the door by a young, crying woman. Prosecutors say it was Pairama.
But then another "more dominant" woman, described by one of the officers as transgender, came to the door and said Ashleigh Tonga wasn't there.
The teen witness told police in her interview the transgender woman was Winter.
"Ashley said 'oh it's alright sis', she acted like [Pairama] was her sister and then they told the cops everything was alright so the cops left," she said.
