KEY POINTS:
A man accused of beating the mother of his six children to death left her unconscious with a note saying he loved her and was sorry before taking a bus to Auckland, a court has heard.
Joseph Kengike, 28, is accused of murdering his former partner, Moana Kapua, at her Tokoroa home in November 2005.
His trial began in the High Court at Rotorua yesterday.
Ms Kapua was 29 when she died and left behind six children aged from 5 months to 11 years old.
She had been in a long-term relationship with Kengike but he was living in Papakura with a new girlfriend when he allegedly killed Ms Kapua by strangling her and bashing her repeatedly about the head and body.
The court heard that Kengike also stomped on Ms Kapua, leaving an imprint of his boot on her chest. She was found battered and unresponsive in her bed by relatives.
She died four days later in Auckland City Hospital, irreversible brain damage forcing doctors to turn off life support.
Crown prosecutor Fletcher Pilditch said Ms Kapua had a fractured right eye socket and ruptured veins in her brain.
Mr Pilditch said Kengike and Ms Kapua were together on November 17, the day before the alleged murder, going to a tavern in Tokoroa and engaging in arguments witnessed by others.
They returned to Ms Kapua's house separately in the early hours of November 18 and argued some more.
Ms Kapua was found the following day after failing to contact relatives and friends, despite its being her 2-year-old daughter's birthday and having left the child in a friend's care.
Her mother, half-sister and a 19-year-old male relative forced their way into the Arthur St house, which Mr Pilditch said had been tidied.
"They found her lying in her bed as if she'd been placed in a coffin, unconscious but not dead," he said.
Kengike had left a note saying, "I love you Moana May. I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry I didn't say this to your face, but you were sleeping like you were out of it on some sort of drugs."
He then walked into town and took a bus back to Papakura, Mr Pilditch said.
Kengike had been in Tokoroa for a court appearance stemming from an alleged assault on Ms Kapua.
She also had a protection order against him, forbidding contact with her and her children, but had invited him to stay with her when he came to Tokoroa.
Kengike allegedly admitted to his new girlfriend that he had given Ms Kapua "a hiding" and could be going to jail after she heard him talking about the incident in his sleep.
The trial resumes today and is expected to last three weeks.
