May 09, 2013

Witness tells of cash-for-lies offer

By David Clarkson. A woman says she was offered $13,000 to give evidence accusing another man of killing Alexsis Maria Tovizi, rather than Nikki Roper who is now on trial for murder.

Her evidence about the offer was given at the trial of 24-year-old Roper who is accused of strangling his ex-girlfriend in a carotid or sleeper hold at her Christchurch address in December 2010.

The trial before Justice Forrest Miller and a jury in the High Court at Christchurch will continue into next week.

The 26-year-old woman, who has name suppression, told the court she had known Roper for about 10 years. She had visited him in prison.

She told of receiving a phone call from a woman who identified herself as Roper?s girlfriend, while he was in prison a few weeks ago.

The caller offered her $13,000 if she would give evidence that someone else ? a man who was named in the phone call ? had confessed to her about killing Alexsis Tovizi.

She said that if the woman did not give the evidence Roper?s ?chances of getting out would be limited?.

The witness said she later received two calls from Roper at the prison. She asked him about the money that was being offered but Roper said he could not tell her over the phone because the calls were being recorded.

?I told him I did not want to be involved and (the man) had never confessed to me,? she told the court.

The recordings of those phone calls from the prison have been played in court during the trial.

Cross-examined by defence counsel Simon Shamy, she accepted that Roper never had much cash and had been in prison for about two years at the time of the phone calls. It was a joke that he would be able to pay the money.

But she also said that there had been a reference in the calls to two people from the Mongrel Mob, and she understood the money was coming from them. ?I knew he knew the gang.?

Another witness told about speaking to Roper about Alexsis Tovizi?s death. He told her she had been drowning herself in a bucket and had held his hand on the back of her head. When she stopped pushing, he had kept going.

A prisoner, who has suppression, told of Roper telling him that the prisoner had been dumb to plead guilty at court. He said Roper said: ?I pleaded not guilty and I killed my missus.?