Takeaway murder trial: Woman lied to protect reputation

Amandeep Kaur, 32, is on trial before the High Court at Auckland. Photo / Supplied

A woman accused of plotting with her lover to kill her husband told police she initially lied about the incident to protect her reputation.

Amandeep Kaur, 32, is on trial before the High Court at Auckland after allegedly murdering 35-year-old Davender Singh in August last year.

Initially when interviewed by police, the defendant said it was a stranger who stabbed her husband in his car and made off with his cell phone, but later changed her story to say it was 27-year-old Gurjinder Singh - the man she had an affair with.

It is alleged the married couple parked their car outside the Manukau Events Centre on Norman Spencer Drive before the second defendant arrived.

The Crown said a post mortem found a dozen stab wounds to Davender Singh's body and his throat was slit.

In an interview with police, nearly 24 hours after her husband bled to death in front of her, Kaur said the reason she didn't tell police the truth straight away was because she had agreed with her husband never to talk about the affair again.

"The reason I didn't want to say was because I was desperate," she said. "My worry was if I disclosed it to you it would be bad for our reputation."

The police questioned her rationale.

"So you lied about the person who stabbed your husband to death because of an affair that happened four months ago?" one officer asked.

"In order to hide your affair you were willing to protect the man that killed your husband?" another said.

"I wasn't doing this to protect him, I was doing this to protect my own image," Kaur replied.

During the interview, police also raised concerns that the last text messages shared between the defendants a month earlier were: "I love you", and "I love you too".

But Kaur said the affair had ended and "everything was good" in her marriage.

They had plans to move back to India, she told police.

Crown prosecutor Natalie Walker said the defendants had begun an affair months before Davender Singh's throat was slit.

After 130 calls and more than 1000 text messages in the space of three months, It is alleged their respective partners discovered the relationship and electronic communication between the couple ceased.

But she said their contact continued in the weeks leading up to the killing in the form of hand-written notes.

Most importantly, the Crown said the plan to murder Davender Singh was clearly apparent through those letters, which will be presented as evidence during the trial.

Kaur's lawyer Sanjay Patel said it was accepted there may have been plans to kill but that his client had withdrawn from those plans and reconciled with her husband.

The trial continues.