A Dome Valley resident has described the bloody scene she discovered while driving to work on a drizzly May morning last year.
Five people are on trial at the High Court in Auckland, facing a raft of charges over two alleged attacks on a 19-year-old woman.
Nicola Jones, Julie-Ann Torrance, Wayne Blackett and Michelle Blom are all accused of kidnap, assault with a weapon and sexual violation.
A fifth accused, Cameron Hakeke, is also on trial for kidnapping, assault with a weapon and aggravated robbery relating to an earlier incident in April last year, also allegedly involving Jones and Torrance.
This morning Kathleen Tolman told the jury she was driving to work shortly before 7am on May 9 when she discovered the victim lying on the roadside about 1 kilometre from her home.
"I got to the corner and I saw something in the road, so I put my headlights on and I saw a body," Ms Tolman recalled.
"I saw it and got a sharp pain in my chest."
Ms Tolman said she was too frightened to get out of her vehicle, which was stopped in the middle of the road, so she turned around to alert her partner at their home. The pair called 111 and drove back to help the woman.
"There was blood on the road and she was very badly injured."
Ms Tolman said the woman had cable ties on her wrists and ankles, and was unconscious.
The Crown alleges the victim was kidnapped from central Auckland, before being viciously assaulted at an address on Great North Rd. They say she was beaten and sexually violated with a cricket bat, and her hair was chopped off.
It's alleged she was then driven to Dome Valley, north of Auckland, where she was hit over the head with a hammer several times. Her unconscious body was then dumped on the side of the road.
Blackett has pleaded guilty to one charge of attempted murder - a charge denied by Jones and Torrance.
The trial is set down for four weeks.
Newshub.
