Wellington, March 4
A New Zealand woman, who
discovered the charred remains of an Indian-origin youth murdered in
Auckland in 2013, has testified in court, media reported on Wednesday.
Shivneel
Kumar, 20, and Bryne Permal, 22, are on trial for the murder of Shalvin
Prasad, 21, who was found burned to death by the side of a road in
rural South Auckland on January 31, 2013, the day after the convicts
withdrew NZ$30,000 (around $23,000) from Prasad's bank account.
Sandra
Campbell told the Auckland High Court that she discovered Prasad's
burnt body at the end of the road towards a small park, while she was
walking her dog.
Campbell told the court that she initially mistook the body as a tree trunk.
"I
stood there for a minute or two deciding what it was. It wasn't a tree
trunk. I decided I had to get home and ring the police. It was a body."
She then contacted the police to report her discovery of the body.
Earlier,
the jury was shown footage of one of the accused, Permal, filling two
cans of petrol at a Mobil station on the night Prasad disappeared.
Opening
the Crown case on Monday, prosecutor Aaron Perkins alleged that the
other accused, Kumar, was the instigator of the crime.
Kumar had previously borrowed NZ$7,500 from Prasad and had not repaid it, according to reports.
On the day before the body was found, Kumar "somehow talked Prasad into parting with even more money", Perkins said.
Prasad withdrew NZ$30,050 from his bank account and Kumar was waiting for him outside the bank.
"He considered that a sum of money was worth more than Prasad's life," Perkins said.
Tests showed petrol had been used as an accelerant and "almost certainly" Prasad was alive when he was set on fire.
Prasad
was last seen alive on CCTV images, meeting Permal and Kumar at
Permal's workplace at 9.20 p.m. on January 30, 2013, and all of them had
left in one car.
In the days after Prasad's death, Kumar,
formerly penniless, went on a "spending spree", paying cash for stereo
gear, jewellery and clothes and paying off his fines and debts,
including putting NZ$14,000 into his father's account.
Evidence
would include a recording from Kumar's bugged car, where the pair were
intercepted "getting their stories straight", Perkins said.
When interviewed by the police, Permal said Kumar had murdered Prasad.
Permal told police he was enlisted to help Kumar, whose car had supposedly run out of petrol.
Prosecutor Perkins said Permal's account would be shown to be "less than truthful".
