Connor Morris jury see video

The man charged with murdering Connor Morris was told that he was seen striking a male in the head with a stick during a brawl and then running away, despite his denials that he was ever there.

‘‘Everyone else got up. The only person that didn’t get up was Connor Morris because he was dead,’’ Waitemata detective Simon Woodhams said to Michael Thrift Murray during a police interview.

Murray was told several witnesses had placed him at the scene of the fatal fight, wearing a black hoodie.

One said ‘‘Mike got a stick and hit a male in the head. The male was knocked out and went to ground. Mike then ran.’’

Murray responded; ‘‘All those people are lying. I didn’t go out and hurt anybody.’’

Murray, 34, is charged with murdering Connor Morris, 26, during a brawl on August 3 last year.

He is on trial in the High Court at Auckland.

Yesterday, the jury was shown a recording of an interview Murray gave to police at the Henderson police station on August 7, 2014.

Murray told police he spent the night jamming on Guitar Hero and eating takeaways before falling asleep by 8.30pm at the latest.

However during the interview he was shown cellphone records, which showed he had received and sent texts during the night, both to his partner, and another person.

Just after midnight Murray sent a text saying ‘‘call me’’ then another saying ‘‘f****** call me’’ a few moments later.

‘‘There’s a lot of urgency there,’’ Woodhams said to Murray.

Murray said that he had been woken by the commotion outside but never left the house.

‘‘I wasn’t at the top of the driveway. I never left the room with my kids, honest,’’ he said.

Police told Murray that others had reported seeing him hit Morris ‘‘with a stick’’.

But Murray said he was in bed between 7.30pm and 8.30pm, after a long day out.

‘‘I was pretty f..... from the day. Rainbow’s End is a like a massive place.’’

He said he never went to a nearby address where a ‘‘gathering’’ was under way.

Murray said he woke up later to the sound of cars smashing.

‘‘I peered out the window and saw cars getting smashed. The cops were already there.’’

Murray said he had thrown his phone away in the days after Morris died after he dropped it in a puddle.

On Thursday Morris’s partner Millie Elder-Holmes – the stepdaughter of late broadcaster Sir Paul Holmes - gave evidence.

The jury heard how Elder-Holmes watched as Morris collapsed after being struck in the head with a sickle after getting involved in a West Auckland street fight.

‘‘I just remember seeing him drop out of the corner of my eye and the way he fell, I knew something was really wrong. When I saw Connor drop nothing else mattered, I just ran to him,’’ she said.

‘‘Like, he was my only concern, like I wasn’t looking around for who hit him, the way he fell I was so worried.’’

The trialis scheduled for four weeks.