The man who owned the Puhoi property where Lance Murphy was allegedly bludgeoned to death says he found a hog-tied man not long after the two accused left his home.
It's alleged Michael Joseph Waipouri and Steve Gunbie took Mr Murphy, who was in handcuffs and had his head covered in a bag, to the top of a remote hill at the property where he was killed.
The court heard Waipouri allegedly beat Mr Murphy so hard with a bat and a branch that the back of his skull caved in.
His body was found in a field near Wellsford in 2015, nearly three weeks after he was last seen at a BP service station in Warkworth.
Waipouri is standing trial for the 56-year-old's kidnapping and murder while 38-year-old Gunbie has been charged with kidnapping and helping Waipouri avoid arrest after he aided in disposing of the body.
The Puhoi property where the alleged murder took place was owned by one of Gunbie's friends.
The man, who has name suppression, says he'd had spent a Saturday night consuming a cocktail of drugs when Gunbie arrived the next morning in a vehicle with another man he said had "grey and white hair".
He told the court he saw Gunbie jump out of the car and grab a horse cover.
He says Gunbie told him his mate was "freaking out" after taking a euphoric drug known as 'GBL' and he was going to take him up to the top of the hill.
The property owner guessed the pair were there for "around 20 minutes" before coming back down.
"I saw Steve then run up the deck and he told me not to let anyone go up there".
The Crown witness said he decided to drive up with another mate to see what was going on.
"I hopped out of the vehicle and stood beside it, there appeared to be a man who was hog-tied to the tree. I didn't walk right over.
"He was lying on his stomach hog-tied."
He said his friend got much closer, and told him what he saw.
"He told me [the man] was making gurgling noises. So I presume he was fighting to live. I came back down from the hilltop and took off pretty quickly to catch up with Steve."
When asked why he wanted to track him down, he replied: "I wanted to catch up with Steve to grab him to sort his sh*t out".
'I don't want to do this'
The witness says he then drove to Gunbie's house to get him to come back and sort out "his mate".
"We arrived back at my house, and [Steve] took the quad bike up to the top of the hill."
He thought Gunbie had dealt with the situation, but later found out Murphy's body was still there. He then returned to the top of the hill - this time with Gunbie.
"That's when I saw the guy wasn't tied to the tree anymore, he was further up the property, just down the ditch on the fence line to the neighbour's property."
He says Gunbie tied electrical cord to Murphy's legs and tried to drag him out with a vehicle, but the cord kept breaking.
"[Steve] then cut seatbelts out of the vehicle. He tied them around the guy's legs and pulled him up out of the ditch on to the flat. He was then wrapped up into a tarpaulin, and lifted into the back of the car."
The witness said he didn't see what state Murphy was in, but at that point he told Gunbie he didn't want anything more to do with the situation.
"I said I don't want to do this, but he said 'if you don't help it's going to have to stay here'. I was trying to get him to sort it out, because it was my property."
The man then drove with Gunbie to dispose of the body. He said Gunbie told him they would dump it in a "temporary" location, because someone would be back to pick it up.
The witness told the court he became nervous because it was getting dark.
"I said we need to find somewhere, so we stopped on the road, and pulled him out the back. Steve and I pulled him out".
Gunbie's friend later went to police. He's since been granted immunity from charges relating to drugs, and being an accessory after the fact.
"I decided to go back [to police] because they were saying the guy's kids just wanted their father back. I just wanted to come clean."
The man said he didn't know either Waipouri or Murphy.
Murphy 'linked to Jane Furlong case', witness claims
Earlier on Thursday, Crown witness says he was told Mr Murphy was a professional hitman, and connected to the cold case murder of Auckland sex worker Jane Furlong.
Waipouri's friend Eric Murphy told the court he was told by a woman named Shelley that Lance had "killed a few people", and called him a murderer.
Eric says Shelley told him because she herself was "freaked out".
"He threatened her with her life as well, and she was scared and that's when she was telling me".
Eric says he'd heard that Lance Murphy was connected to several cases, including the unsolved disappearance and murder Jane Furlong.
Asked by defence lawyers what he knew of the case, Eric replied: "They found her out at Port Waikato, and sand dunes exposed the body of a lady".
Eric revealed he said to police he'd been told the victim was a murderer when he gave a statement in December 2015.
Along with Ms Furlong, he mentioned 'Mad Wayne', and another man he called John Donnelly.
But giving evidence on Thursday morning, one of the police officers who took Eric's statement, Detective Constable Arwinder Singh, denied the claims when questioned by the Crown.
Eric admitted to the court he was high on methamphetamine, and was "fried" at the time he gave the statement.
But Det Const Singh said he didn't notice he was under the influence.
Police say they won't comment on the claims because the case is before the courts.
Eric then dropped the names of two other missing men including one called 'Mad Wayne'.
He said the victim's daughter, Chralle Murphy, also told him her father was a hitman during a drinking session, something which she denied saying while giving evidence earlier.
The trial continues.
Newshub.
