A jury has heard a recorded police interview in which a Christchurch man admits he snapped and repeatedly beat a 15-year-old boy who his then partner had befriended.
Gavin Gosnell is charged with murdering Hayden Miles in August 2011, cutting up his body and burying it in two cemeteries in central Christchurch.
The 28-year-old denied the charge at the beginning of his trial at the High Court in Christchurch but his lawyer said the accused did not deny killing the boy and the jury must decide whether he is guilty of murder or manslaughter.
In the interview played to the jury on Thursday, Mr Gosnell agrees to tell police the truth, and admits to snapping and then finding that he couldn't stop beating the teenager at the flat in Cashel Street.
Mr Gosnell said he and his then partner put the boy to bed but awoke the next morning to find him dead.
The accused told police he couldn't believe it and freaked out.
He then said he put Hayden Miles's body on a tarpaulin and started cutting it up before burying the parts in cemeteries around Christchurch after dark.
Accused had blood on arms - witness
Earlier, a woman associate of Gavin Gosnell's continued giving evidence and told the jury the accused came to his door with blood on his hands and said there was a dead person on his couch.
The woman, whose name is suppressed, told the court on Thursday when she arrived at Mr Gosnell's house he came out with blood on his hands and arms.
She said he told her four or five times she should not be there, and when she asked why said he had had a fight and someone was dead on his couch.
She said she freaked out and suggested he call an ambulance, but Mr Gosnell told her he was cutting the person up and was going to bury the person around Christchurch.
Under cross-examination, the woman said Mr Gosnell was not boasting about it but seemed upset and not himself.
The last Crown witness will appear on Friday before the defence begins its case.
