Millane told friend her date was ‘really good’
British backpacker Grace Millane sent a message to a friend saying she was having a good time on her date with the man now accused of her murder.
The Crown claims Grace was strangled to death 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 single charge of murder at his trial in the High Court in Auckland.
But he admits being with her and disposing of her body.
Millane died on or before her 22nd birthday, between December 1 and 2 last year while travelling in New Zealand.
On the evening of December 1, Millane messaged her friend, Ameena Ashcroft, while on her date with the accused and details of those messages were read to the court yesterday.
The pair met while studying at Lincoln University in England and kept in touch through social media. ‘‘I thought she was a lovely, outgoing girl who knew exactly what she wanted to achieve,’’ Ashcroft’s statement said. The pair had messaged while Ashcroft was in Dubai and Millane was travelling in Peru back in October 2018.
On December 1, Millane messaged Ashcroft saying she was on a date with a man who was a manager with an oil company.
Ashcroft was immediately a bit concerned but did not tell Millane as she had just come off a 20-hour flight, the court was told.
‘‘I thought something was a bit weird,’’ Ashcroft’s statement said.
Millane messaged her friend again later in the evening saying ‘‘cocktails all round’’, and later wrote: ‘‘He was like: it’s birthday tomorrow, we are getting smashed.’’
‘‘That rang alarm bells to me,’’
‘‘I will let you know what happens tomorrow.’’ Grace Millane’s last message to her friend
Ashcroft said. Her statement said she thought it was weird he was meeting up with a stranger on his birthday and wanted to get ‘‘smashed’’ but she later realised Millane was referring to her own birthday.
Millane told her friend she was wearing a T-shirt dress and Converse trainers and Ashcroft replied that she thought Millane was beautiful.
Ashcroft asked Millane how the date was going and she replied, saying it was ‘‘really good’’.
She then told her friend the accused lived in a hotel room, and said how much she loved Ashcroft.
At that point, Ashcroft knew Millane was drunk as there were spelling mistakes in her messages and they often said they loved each other after drinking alcohol.
‘‘He is coming to London next year. I click with him so well. I will let you know what happens tomorrow,’’ Millane’s last message to her friend read.
Ashcroft sent a couple of other messages she did not get a reply to but she did not have concerns for her friend’s safety.
Ashcroft said in her statement that Millane never met up with someone with the sole intention of having sex with them. ‘‘She would have to be quite happy and trusting of that person,’’ Ashcroft said.
Ashcroft was asked by police about Millane’s sex life and whether she had ever told her about engaging in rough sex or role playing and Ashcroft said she had not.
The trial continues.