KEY POINTS:
A workmate of Liam Reid has told the High Court at Christchurch of the murder accused mentioning strangulation during sex.
Warren Wallace, who worked with Reid at an industrial refrigeration plant, said the defendant mentioned sexual matters in passing on a couple of occasions, Christchurch Court News website reported yesterday.
He referred to "past girlfriends, possibly" and spoke of "strangulation with the hands around the throat".
The witness added: "I said something like, 'That's pretty out of it'."
Cross-examined by defence counsel David Bunce, he was asked if Reid had been talking about "unusual but consensual activity during sex".
Mr Wallace replied: "There was no mention of consent. I don't know."
Mr Bunce: "He didn't explain to you that this was supposed to enhance sensation during sex?"
Mr Wallace: "I don't recall."
A friend of Reid's former girlfriend - the girlfriend has name suppression - told the court she learned on the morning of November 15, 2007, that Reid and the girlfriend had split up.
She told the court that the girlfriend had been supplying her with cannabis tinnies about once a week.
November 15 was the day that Christchurch woman Emma Agnew disappeared, and her body was found 11 days later at Spencer Park.
Reid denies charges of raping and murdering Miss Agnew and of raping, sexually violating, robbing and attempting to murder another woman in Dunedin nine days later.
The defence says he was not involved in either crime.
Earlier, the court was told that Reid's fingerprints were found on the window and rear passenger door of the car belonging to Miss Agnew.
The evidence was given by Detective Constable Craig Johnson on the third day of 36-year-old Reid's trial before Justice Lester Chisholm and a jury.
Another witness, Stuart Monk, told the court how, when walking his dogs, he checked an area a few metres from a Spencer Park walking track when the pets showed an interest two days in a row - and found the body of Miss Agnew lying beneath foliage.
- NZPA
