The trial for the 27-year-old man accused of her murder began in the High Court at Auckland today.
Mrs Gotingco, a 56-year-old mother of three, was last seen leaving her workplace, Tower Insurance in the CBD, about 7pm on May 24 last year.
After volunteering to do overtime, she took a bus from lower Albert St to Birkdale Rd and she was walking home when the Crown says she was deliberately run down.
Prosecutor Michael Walker said the impact of the defendant's car broke her left leg in two places and caused significant damage to his car's bonnet and windscreen.
The man - who has name suppression until the end of the trial - scooped up the injured woman and put her in his vehicle.
"He parked the car in the downstairs garage of the apartment complex he lived in and after arriving at his house he raped Mrs Gotingco," Mr Walker said.
"He ran her down in his car, abducted her and raped her, then he set about attacking her."
It's alleged the defendant slit the victim's throat and then stabbed her numerous times.
According to the Crown, the following morning - 10 hours after Mrs Gotingco was hit by the car - the accused wrapped her body in his bed sheets and dumped it in a scrub area of Eskdale Cemetery.
Police investigations led them to the defendant, who was being monitored via a GPS anklet at the time.
They found he had made a trip to the cemetery before the alleged attack and then gone there the next morning.
"Why's that important?" Mr Walker asked.
"It shows the defendant was planning to kill someone. His trip to the cemetery was scoping out where to dump the body."
When the police searched the defendant's address they found a knife, testing of which showed traces of Mrs Gotingco's blood.
It is alleged they also found some of her personal items, such as her handbag, buried in the suspect's garden.
Bloody towels and mop heads were found in a wheelie bin too, Mr Walker said.
A swab taken from the victim's body turned up a semen sample, which was later tested by ESR scientists.
Mr Walker said it provided "extremely strong scientific support" to suggest the defendant had raped Mrs Gotingco.
In the early hours of the morning after the original incident, Mrs Gotingco's daughter found her mother's phone on Salisbury Rd, where she was allegedly run down.
Family members were in court for the start of the trial but left hurriedly during the emotive Crown opening.
The trial, before Justice Brewer and a jury of seven men and five women, is expected to last three weeks.
In court this morning, Justice Timothy Brewer gave permission for media to publish photos of the defendant, but continued suppression of his name.
