Dean Michael Addison had ordered Rae Portman, 33, be "taught a lesson" over a drug deal between the pair, but thought she would be kidnapped and left somewhere as a message to leave him alone, the Crown alleges.
The High Court trial against Addison and his co-accused Paraire Te Awa, known as 'Friday', began this morning in Auckland.
Addison faces a charge of kidnap as well as two drugs charges, while Te Awa has been charged with kidnap and murder.
This afternoon the Crown continued its opening statement saying Te Awa strangled Ms Portman without the prior knowledge of Addison, and later pretended to have carried out the plan the pair had hatched earlier in the day.
It is alleged Addison and Ms Portman were involved in the transfer and supply of pseudoephedrine, the substance used to make methamphetamine. Ms Portman had given Addison a package of the base material, but he had failed to pay her or exchange it for a quantity of the drug.
When she began pressuring him for the money he hatched a plan to "teach her a lesson", Crown prosecutor Anna Pollett said.
Ms Portman showed up to Addison's Papakura home on June 20 where she was bound and gagged by Te Awa, Ms Pollett said. He then bundled her into the boot of her own Mazda and drove to a Hamilton industrial site where he is alleged to have strangled her.
He later dumped her body in a pit on a friend's farm, and covered her body in rubbish bags, the court heard.
When he arrived back at Addison's house the next day, he told him "things had gone according to plan", the Crown said.
"There was no mention of what Te Awa had actually done to Rae Portman, and instead he told Dean Addison that he had let her go and told her to go far away and never make contact with them again," Ms Pollett told the court this afternoon.
It was only when an associate, Lee Rigby, informed Addison a few days later what happened, that he found out.
Rigby, who has already been jailed for his role in the kidnap, is due to give evidence for the Crown.
"Rigby will describe Dean Addison as being shocked and saying , 'that wasn't supposed to happen'."
The Crown will use text messages and mobile phone data to connect both Addison and Te Awa to Ms Portman, and to place Te Awa at the Ardmore farm near Auckland where her body was found three months after her disappearance.
The court also heard how Ms Portman was close friends with Addison's wife Nicola, so much so the pair were often referred to as "like sisters". Text messages between them also show Ms Portman called her "sis".
It was Ms Addison who contacted Ms Portman's mother concerned about her whereabouts, the court said today.
Addison was a pallbearer at Ms Portman's funeral.
- By Patrice Dougan of APNZ
