A man accused of murdering a student and dumping her body in the boot of her abandoned car is a foolish young man but not a murderer, his lawyer has told a court.
Honglin Yu has denied murdering Kiko Li and stealing her ATM card in May last year.
In his summing up at the High Court at Auckland today, Yu's lawyer Mark Edgar told the jury his client had no plan to kill Kiko and it was his friend, Yongxin Li who carried out the fatal attack.
The court has been told how Yu and Yongxin Li took Kiko out for a driving lesson. The Crown says Yu helped plan the murder of Kiko. Li says he had no idea the murder would take place.
Mr Edgar told the jurors today that his client had suggested Kiko as a target but he took little time trying to backtrack.
He referred to text messages between Yu and Yongxin Li, one of which said: **** This is not very good, is it? I kind of can't harden my heart...''
Another text said: "Think this way. For this little amount of money, she loses her life. Really not worth it, is it ... wait and see''.
He said Yu was having problems with his girlfriend at the time and had sent a number of texts to the girl and his friends asking for advice.
"It affected his thoughts and feelings and even his peripheral judgement.''
He said while Yu did send an "exploratory text'' to Kiko, inviting her out in the company of Yongxin Li, it had been Kiko in the end who asked for a driving lesson on the night she was killed.
Mr Edgar also questioned the Crown's motive of money being behind the killing. He pointed out that Li paid a friend $1000 to drive Kiko's car and her body to Hamilton in the day's following the killing.
"He's a young man. He's made some foolish decisions, as he has told you in the witness box. But there's a difference between foolish unwise decisions and being consigned to a murderous plan.''
However, Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins said there was such a plan and Yu helped Li carry it out in the early hours of May 19, last year.
Mr Perkins said the motive for the killing was money but there was also an element of killing for killing's sake.
He pointed to a text sent from Yu to Yongxin Li a week before the killing that said: "Oh... I even have the thought of killing people... Who do you find disagreeable? I will help you fix him.''
Mr Perkins told the jurors that even if they found that it was Li who stabbed Kiko repeatedly, Yu was still guilty of murder because he encouraged and helped Li.
"He started the ball rolling by talking of killing people.''
Mr Perkins said while Yu told the court that he had got off the "metaphorical train'' - the pair's plan to kill someone - the 21-year-old was actually driving.
"A critical part of the plan was to get Kiko to an area where their intentions would not be interrupted by other people.''
He said Yu bought and paid for the murder weapon, suggested Kiko as the target and set up the meeting with Kiko.
"The assistance is from start to finish... He starts the ball rolling. Those text messages involve this man encouraging Mr Li to participate in a plan to kill.''
He said Yu and Li were "incompetent'' in their planning of the murder. They left bloodied items of clothing at home, allowed themselves to be filmed on CCTV buying the knife at a supermarket and organised the crime using text messages.
"But trumping all of that is the fact they didn't check her pin number or confirm it. She died for absolutely nothing.''
Justice Kit Toogood will sum up the case to the jury of five women and seven men tomorrow morning before they retire to consider their verdict.
