Millane murder

Accused ‘liked to dominate’

A woman who went on a date with the man accused of murdering British backpacker Grace Millane feared she might die, a court has heard.

The Crown claims Millane was strangled by the man she met on a Tinder date. The defence claims her death was an accident during consensual sex.

The man, 27, who has name suppression, has denied a charge of murder at his trial at the High Court in Auckland. But he admits being with her the night she died and disposing of her body.

Millane, 21, died in December last year. Her body was found in a suitcase a week later, buried in the Waitakere Ranges.

Yesterday, the court heard from a woman who said she was ‘‘terrified’’ after a sexual encounter with the accused.

The pair matched on Tinder in March last year and eventually met in November at Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour. The accused said he wanted to change out of his suit, so they went back to his CityLife apartment where they drank alcohol. ‘‘He kept filling up my glass,’’ she said.

She told him they wouldn’t be having sex, but he tried to get her to perform a sex act, covering her face with his body. ‘‘I couldn’t breathe,’’ she said.

The woman kicked violently to indicate she couldn’t breathe.

‘‘He would have felt me fighting against his arms,’’ she said.

After about 30 seconds, she gasped for air then feigned unconsciousness. But the accused still didn’t get off, the court heard.

At that moment, she thought: ‘‘This can’t be the way I die.’’

After some time, the accused removed himself, prompting the woman to again gasp for air.

She told the court: ‘‘I was in disbelief and shock.’’ She decided not to bring up the encounter the next day as she didn’t want to aggravate him. ‘‘I was scared.’’

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Ron Mansfield asked the witness why she later kept messaging him and didn’t just ‘‘blow him off’’. She said she wanted to ‘‘catch him out’’ and talk about what happened.

‘‘There was no way he couldn’t know what he was doing.’’

Earlier yesterday, another young woman who met the accused on Tinder told the court he said he liked to dominate women because it made him feel ‘‘more superior and in control’’.

Via video link, she said the pair never met in person. But when they spoke on the phone the conversation was often about the accused’s sexual preferences.

‘‘He liked feet, dominating and strangulation,’’ she said.

On the morning of December 1, the accused messaged the woman about meeting up.

‘‘I didn’t feel comfortable meeting him with some of the things he wanted me to do,’’ she said.

Mansfield produced the pair’s social media messages to each other and questioned why there was no mention of strangulation. ‘‘I wouldn’t have made up the fact that he asked to strangle me before I knew I was coming to court or anything about this if it wasn’t real,’’ she said.

A young woman who met the accused on Tinder told the court he said he liked to dominate women because it made him feel ‘‘more superior and in control’’.