The boy accused of killing schoolgirl Liberty Templeman has told a High Court jury he accidentally pushed Miss Templeman over in a stream but denies strangling her.
The bruised, semi-naked body of Miss Templeman, 15, was found face-down in a stream in an abandoned orchard in Kerikeri on 1 November 2008, a day after she disappeared.
The 16-year-old accused has name suppression. He has admitted assaulting Miss Templeman and putting her unconscious body face down in the stream. He denies the charge of murder.
The boy gave evidence in his own defence at the High Court in Whangarei on Wednesday afternoon, telling the jury that he accidentally pushed Miss Templeman over in a stream, but denied strangling her.
The court was told that, while walking back from town with the boy, Miss Templeman wanted to explore a local stream where she had spotted a road cone. The accused says he followed her in, slipped and knocked her over, and she emerged from the water crying with blood on her face.
The boy says Miss Templeman accused him of pushing her on purpose, was upset and left the stream to put on her shoes and leave. He then followed her up on the bank and tried to apologise and stop her leaving, as he was worried that she would tell her boyfriend and police.
The boy says Miss Templeman punched him and he then hit her around the head, knocking her out.
The court was told the boy thought at that point that the girl was dead and put her in the water where she just happened to turn over face down.
Under vigourous cross-examination, the boy admitted he had told police many lies in the course of the investigation, but maintained that he was now telling the truth.
In her opening remarks on Wednesday, defence counsel Catherine Cull urged the jury to keep an open mind, saying it has not heard everything.
Miss Cull said the defence does not contest most of the evidence against the boy, but the jury will have to decide to what degree he was culpable in criminal law.
Police video evidence
In Crown evidence on Wednesday, the court was shown a video interview in which the accused told police that he hit Miss Templeman repeatedly around the head.
The boy told police he knocked the girl out and she fell to the ground, not moving but still breathing.
In the video interview the boy then told police he strangled Miss Templeman, dragged her into the stream to hide the body and pulled down her clothes to make it look as if she had been raped.