A former girlfriend of a man accused of murder has told the High Court how he once tried to strangle her while they were having sex.
Nikki Roper is accused of murdering Christchurch mother Alexsis Tovizi at her home in Stanmore Road in December 2010, taking her car and laptop and using her eftpos card.
The 24-year-old has denied all charges at the High Court in Christchurch.
The Crown says Mr Roper killed Alexsis Tovizi with a military-style sleeper hold because he was jealous of her new boyfriend.
The former girlfriend, who has name suppression, told the court on Wednesday she briefly dated Mr Roper in August 2010 and during that time he started choking her until she almost lost consciousness.
The woman said she managed to push him off her and he left soon after that.
In other evidence, an associate of Nikki Roper's told the court how the accused said he would kill a woman because she was cheating on him.
The witness, who has name suppression, knew Mr Roper while they were in prison and happened to meet him on the street in early December 2010.
He said Mr Roper had told him he killed Ms Tovizi because ''she was a slut''.
Another inmate told the court he overheard a conversation between Nikki Roper and a prisoner early last year in which Mr Roper told the man he had been stupid for pleading guilty to murder.
According to the inmate, he then said he had "killed his missus".
The defence did not make an opening statement on Wednesday.
