This article contains details that may distress some people.
When Bridget Simmonds turned up on her mother's doorstep in the weeks leading up to her death, Carol Callen knew her daughter was in a bad way.
Just days earlier, she had been beaten black and blue by her then-boyfriend Samuel Pou.
"She told me she had three fractures and an attempted eye gouge which she had antibiotics for," Callen said.
In April 2021 Pou pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm for this attack, as well as charges of injuring with intent to injure against a former partner.
But he has pleaded not guilty to Simmonds' murder.
One of the last people to see Simmonds alive was her mother. After a hug, they parted ways outside the Regent Countdown in Whangarei.
"She went towards the zebra crossing and she yelled something out. She said 'don't forget my something stone'."
Callen called after her daughter, but she was already out of earshot. By the time she realised what 'stone' Simmonds had been talking about, it was too late.
"After about half an hour's driving, I was trying to figure out what she yelled at me. And I thought 'oh my god, she said 'don't forget my headstone''."
She considered turning back to find her daughter but knew that Simmonds had a broken phone and would be long gone from the supermarket.
The Crown alleges Simmonds said goodbye to her mother and caught a taxi to a rural property 45 minutes west of Whangarei.
It's alleged that at that property she suffered a fatal beating at the hands of Pou.
Crown lawyer Mike Smith told the court the beating lasted 90 minutes and included a tree branch and more than 100 "hard punches".
"She was beaten for a lengthy period of time. She had been beaten by the defendant on other occasions, she was buried partially clothed, in a shallow grave on a remote property and left," he said.
It wasn't under more than a year after she had been missing that police located her body and charged Pou with her murder.
The defence does not dispute that the beating took place, but is asking the jury of six men and six women to consider whether Pou had murderous intent.
The trial is set down for three weeks.
