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A man charged with murdering deaf woman Emma Agnew returned to the area where her body lay to spend the night with his girlfriend, a court has been told.
Liam James Reid, 35 - a short, heavily tattooed man with a shaven head -allegedly confessed to his girlfriend that he killed the 20-year-old.
Reid is accused of suffocating Miss Agnew and partially concealing her body in scrub last November.
At a depositions hearing that started in the Christchurch District Court yesterday, attended by many of the city's deaf community, it was revealed that Reid is also facing a charge of raping Miss Agnew.
A member of the public found her - 11 days after she went missing - lying naked and partially concealed by foliage and pine needles near Spencerville, about 10km north of Christchurch.
A sock had been stuffed into her throat, blocking her airway, and she had suffered bruising to her neck and between her legs.
Prosecutor Pip Currie told the court that after the killing, Reid went on a trip to Nelson for several nights and discarded some clothing.
He returned and spent the night with his girlfriend in a cabin at the Spencer Beach Holiday Park, not far from where Miss Agnew's body had been dumped.
Four days later, Reid spent another night with his girlfriend at Christchurch's Wigram Lodge and allegedly told her he had killed Miss Agnew.
"She asked him what he had done, he said he had killed the girl, and when she said, 'Emma Agnew, the deaf girl', he replied 'Yes'," Mrs Currie said.
Reid was arrested in a dramatic raid on the lodge.
When she went missing on November 15, Miss Agnew had been advertising to sell her red Mazda Familia car.
She went to work at Christchurch's Deaf Association in the morning but later disappeared and stopped responding to cellphone messages.
She normally was prompt in replying.
Later that day, Miss Agnew's car was found in Christchurch's Bromley Park. An attempt had been made to set it on fire.
Mrs Currie said police inquiries into the use of cellphones belonging to Reid and Ms Agnew indicated they were together for a period of time and travelled north of Christchurch in her car.
Reid later went back to a central Christchurch backpackers where he had been staying, had a shower and spent several hours there, Mrs Currie said.
When arrested, Reid declined to speak to police.
Fingerprints later obtained from Miss Agnew's car matched those belonging to Reid, Mrs Currie said.
About 30 witnesses will be called by the prosecution during the hearing, before justices of the peace Nick Atkins and John O'Hara. It is expected to last up to five days.
