The Crown says analysis provided "extremely strong scientific certainty" that the hair belonged to 35-year-old Rajinder.
At the outset of his trial in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday, the defendant loudly confirmed his plea of not guilty over the murder of Gurjeet Singh — a man who had previously worked for him as a fibre-optic cable installer.
The 27-year-old was found by his friend Dhruval Aery on January 29 last year on the lawn of his Liberton home, "soaked in blood", surrounded by shards of glass from a nearby shattered window.
Mr Singh had been married in India the previous year and was expecting his new wife to join him in Dunedin within days.
Defence counsel Katy Barker accepted the brutality of the killing clearly indicated murderous intent, but said there was no motive for Rajinder.
"There was no enmity between them, no animosity, no grievance," she said.
Ms Barker said the defendant had lived in New Zealand since 2015 and had built a good life here.
"This doesn’t make any sense at all that [he] would risk losing all that ... by killing Mr Singh, a person he’d previously employed and was on good terms with," she said.
But Crown Prosecutor Robin Bates said the evidence against Rajinder was compelling.
A scene examination identified blood from several areas inside and outside Mr Singh’s home — as well the hair found in the victim’s hand — which could be attributed to the defendant.
It was 500,000 million times more likely to be Rajinder’s DNA than another person, the court heard.
Added to that was Mr Singh’s blood found in the upholstery of the defendant’s car (despite it receiving a valet clean) and a pair of his shoes with glass embedded in the sole which matched a print at the scene.
Jurors would be played CCTV footage from just hours before the attack which showed Rajinder buying gloves from Bunnings Warehouse and a scarf and knife from Hunting & Fishing — items that were never found by police.
But an officer noticed a cut on the defendant’s left hand.
Rajinder attributed it to a chainsaw injury which had occurred weeks earlier, but once police had the CCTV, they noticed no corresponding wound.
When the man was reinterviewed on February 5 last year, he changed his story after being shown the images.
Rajinder said he had been taking his wife for a driving lesson at about midnight the night of Mr Singh’s death and cut his hand when unloading a bike from the vehicle.
He did not want to go to hospital for treatment because it would "make things complicated", he said.
When police indicated to Rajinder that his blood had been found at the scene he said it was "impossible".
Earlier, on the night of January 28, Mr Singh had briefly attended a pizza party with associates before returning to his Hilary St home.
When his friend and former flatmate Mr Aery messaged him the following morning, there was no response.
Another friend had the same experience and had received a call from Mr Singh’s worried wife who had tried calling without success.
Mr Aery said he immediately knew the victim was dead when he approached the house and saw him outside.
"There was a big cut on his throat and there was blood in it and he was soaked in blood. He wasn’t breathing and there was no movement at all," he said.
"I was scared to go near him, to be honest."
Ms Barker urged the jury to consider all of the evidence before coming to any conclusion.
While the ties between Rajinder and Mr Singh would be at the forefront of the trial, she stressed jurors should broaden their focus and also consider the victim’s relationships with others.
The trial, before Justice Rachel Dunningham, is scheduled to run for three weeks.
rob.kidd@odt.co.nz , Court reporter
