Nikki Roper bumped into an old prison pal just days after he allegedly murdered his ex-girlfriend, Alexsis Tovizi, and told him he had killed the girl tattooed on his cheek because she was cheating on him, a court has heard.
Roper, 24, unemployed, denies murdering the mother-of-one and is standing trial for her murder at the High Court in Christchurch.
The Crown says it was a killing "fuelled by jealousy and revenge" after Tovizi, 21, had started a relationship with another man.
It claims Roper choked his "on again, off again" partner to death with a sleeper hold at her Stanmore Rd home between December 5 and 9, 2010.
He may have then stuck her head in a bucket or pot of water, before putting her to bed, the court has heard.
The defence chose not to make any opening submissions.
On the third day of the trial today, an associate of Roper, who had known him for around five years, told how he saw him soon after the alleged murder.
The man, who has name suppression, told the court how he asked what the tattoo was on Roper's cheek.
It said, 'Alexsis', and was new, "dark, not faded", the witness said.
Roper said it was his girlfriend and that he had "put her to sleep".
"I killed her. She was a cheating s***," the witness claimed he was told.
He brushed the comments off as being part of Roper's "sick sense of humour".
A former Stanmore Rd neighbour of Tovizi's today told of an argument involving her and Roper shortly before it is alleged she was killed.
David Gordon, a labourer, said he went outside to check what the commotion was on the morning of December 4.
He saw Roper and an associate leaving Tovizi's property.
As they did so, Tovizi threw a porcelain cup, which hit their car and smashed.
Tovizi told him that Roper had just taken her car keys out of her ignition.
Mr Gordon offered to phone the police for her, but she told him not to, saying Roper had just got out of jail.
That night, he saw Roper again.
This time he was outside Tovizi's house, "pacing up and down" her driveway, drinking from a bottle, possibly Jim Beam.
The next day, he heard a car leave around 9am.
Tovizi's lights were on, and the curtains remained drawn all weekend, which he said was unusual for her residence.
The trial, before Justice Forrest Miller, continues.
