His confession made on a police interview videotape recording was shown to a jury of six men and six women hearing murder and indecent assault charges in the High Court at Whangarei today.
The accused who has name suppression has pleaded not guilty to both counts in spite of his confession. He was arrested five days after Liberty's body was found.
Liberty, also known as Libby, died from drowning.
Detective Peter Hayes interviewed the accused three times on tape and disclosed discrepancies in the early accounts. The accused was the last to see Liberty alive. Finally, it was the youth's father who told Detective Hayes at the Kaikohe police station that his son "wants to confess."
The accused described accompanying Liberty down to the banks of the stream and her wading in because she saw something in the water. He said he followed, slipped and knocked her over. She jumped out of the water, pulled on her shoes, said he'd deliberately knocked her and then punched him, in spite of his saying it was an accident and he was sorry.
"I grabbed her arm ... hit her back and she fell to the ground. She wasn't moving but she was still breathing and I got scared she was going to tell someone and I didn't want anyone to find out. So I strangled her. Then I pulled her into the river where no one could find her...
"I thought the police would be after someone and would have wanted an explanation.
"So I pulled down her clothes to make it look like rape or something and I got out [of the stream] and left." Mr Hayes asked on tape: "What happens when you put someone in the water face down? [The accused]: "You drown." Mr Hayes: "That's how you put Libby (Liberty) in the water?" Accused: "Yes." Under further questioning, the accused denied raping Liberty.
After leaving the girl, he biked home, showered and hid his blood-stained shirt in bushes where it was later found by the police.
