The lawyer of murder-accused Quinton Winders has accused police of fabricating a traffic incident to get Winders in for questioning on the death of George Taiaroa.
Jonathan Temm questioned Detective Steven Dunn about the legitimacy of a "traffic incident" where the accused was caught driving erratically and at speed the night before the April 4, 2013 police interview.
"You said in the interview that the real reason [Winders] was here was to talk about the death of a stop-go worker on March 19... The traffic incident was a facade - strategic," Mr Temm asserted.
"No, the [traffic incident] occured," Mr Dunn replied. He also said he had no control over the events which unfolded and so he was required to put those matters to Winders in the interview.
Mr Temm said police had no power to question people who did not want to be questioned, to which Mr Dunn agreed. Mr Temm went on to say the reckless driving charge was fabricated so Winders would be arrested and taken in for questioning about the death of Mr Taiaroa.
Mr Dunn said that was not the case.
Earlier the court watched the remaining footage of the police interview referred to by Mr Temm.
During the interview, Winders reiterated several times his Jeep Cherokee was "more purple than blue".
When told his vehicle was registered as blue, Winders said the previous owner had registered it and he never bothered to change it.
"It's a funny sort of purple, a dark sort of purple - purpley blue... I didn't bother to change it because the girl before had registered it as blue but there is actually a classification of purple. I should change it," Winders said.
The interview then moved on to Winders' movements the day Mr Taiaroa was shot. Winders relayed getting dropped to Kevin Davis Panel Beaters to pick up his Cherokee, refuelling at the Caltex and "maybe doing another job" before heading back to the farm.
Later in the interview, Winders said he may have gone to Taumarunui to "look at a job - look at a contract to do with fencing".
Winders was then told he was in Taumarunui and was shown CCTV footage showing him in the Taumaranui PostShop.
"Oh yeah, I was in Taumarunui because I had to get a license for the Jeep... It expired when it was at [the panel beaters]."
When discussing his movements after Taumarunui, Winders said he left and went towards Te Kuiti then went on to say the interview was "getting pretty serious" and he did not want to answer any further questions without a lawyer present. The interview was ended at that point.
