Witness denies she sought deal

The main Crown witness in a murder trial yesterday denied trying to get her former partner to take the blame for a killing the defence says she committed.

Suwapa Kampan, 37, was giving evidence in the High Court at Auckland against 57-year-old Grant Elliott Wills, who is accused of beating her new partner, Somwes Suksabai, to death with a stone pestle as the couple lay asleep in bed in their Henderson home in March last year.

Wills is further accused of trying to murder Ms Kampan with the pestle or alternatively wounding her with intent to cause her grievous bodily harm.

Wills, who has two children with Ms Kampan, lived at the address.

The defence says that in fact Ms Kampan was the killer and Wills had nothing to do with it.

Cross-examined by Wills' lawyer, Peter Winter, Ms Kampan, denied trying to coax Wills and pressure him into taking the rap for the killing.

She denied saying it would be better that she and the children die than for her to go to prison and that there would be no one to look after them. Wills was old, had cancer and a bad liver. She could not live in prison.

Ms Kampan also denied wanting to make sure Wills phoned the police to confess.

She told Mr Winter that Wills was the one who said he was old and would rather die than go to prison again.

She wanted him to call the police to tell the truth about what he had done.

Earlier Mr Winter queried why she had not pressed any one of three buttons on a security alarm which would have brought the police, fire or ambulance service to the house immediately.

Ms Kampan said she did not know much about the alarm, only how to arm it against burglars.

She was also questioned about why she did not telephone for help when Wills left the house for a time to take the children to the bakery.

She said she could not get a line - she believed because the internet was on.

Mr Winter said records showed the internet was not on.

The trial before Justice Rhys Harrison is expected to run until the end of next week.