The jury in the trial of the man accused of murdering South Auckland mother Arishma Chand has heard he told a friend he'd kill her and her ex-husband.
Rohit Deepak Singh standing alongside an interpreter at the High Court in Auckland. Photo: RNZ / Anneke Smith
Ms Chand was found stabbed to death in her Manurewa home on the 12 November last year.
Rohit Deepak Singh is on trial in the High Court at Auckland after pleading not guilty to murdering the 24-year-old woman.
Today David Chand, a friend of the accused, told the court Mr Singh said he would kill Ms Chand and her ex-husband during a conversation in April, 2017.
"What he said was... 'I'm going to kill them'."
He went on to say Mr Singh showed him a tattoo he had on his chest of a photograph of Ms Chand.
"He just ripped his shirt off and showed me a tattoo. I don't know if he got it that day but it looked pretty fresh. He said 'this is how much I love her' and 'this is what it means to me'. He was pretty agro."
The Crown's case has been that the 42-year-old was an obsessed ex-boyfriend whose relentless infatuation drove him to kill her.
The pair had been in a sexual relationship in 2016 during which Ms Chand fell pregnant.
But she got an abortion and broke up with Mr Singh.
Friends and family have told the court he intended to marry Ms Chand and was heartbroken after the rejection.
During cross-examination, it was revealed that the Hindi word for 'kill' was the same as 'hit'.
Mr Singh's lawyer Belinda Sellars put this to Mr Chand and suggested her client's comment could have had light-hearted meaning.
"It depends what comes out of a person's heart. It depends on what the feeling is," Mr Chand said.
Today the jurors were also presented with a thick booklet detailing messages Mr Singh sent Ms Chand following the break up.
They were read aloud by Detective Shaun Winstanley in court and included texts saying he missed her, that he talked to a photograph of her and that he would never give up on their relationship.