A boy accused of killing schoolgirl Libby Templeman wanted to confess after police found a blood-stained shirt at his house, a court has been told.
The bruised, semi-naked body of Miss Templeman, 15, was found face-down in a stream in an abandoned orchard in Kerikeri on 1 November 2008, a day after she disappeared.
The 16-year-old accused has name suppression and has pleaded not guilty to the charge of murder.
On Tuesday, police interviews with the accused were shown in the Whangarei High Court.
The boy repeatedly denied having hurt Miss Templeman, but the day after police searched his house and found his bloodstained T-shirt hidden in bushes outside his bedroom he agreed to a third interview.
Police said the boy's father had emerged from the waiting room and said his son wanted to confess.
The Crown says the boy admits repeatedly hitting Miss Templeman, strangling her and putting her in the creek where she drowned.
In other police interviews shown to the jury, the accused told police that the day before her body was found he had walked Miss Templeman back towards town and left her by the school gates because he had to go home.
The boy said she seemed happy, and was fine when he left her.
The accused also detailed the activities of groups of teenagers around Kerikeri on the day Miss Templeman died. He told police that one of her friends had been caught with drugs and used alcohol.
Distressed mother leaves courtroom
Miss Templeman's mother, Rebecca Templeman, left the courtroom sobbing after seeing the boy deny killing her daughter in a police interview.
The officer accused the boy of making up stories to cover himself, including an account of a nose bleed Miss Templeman suffered - a story not backed up by other witnesses.
Police also confronted the accused with security camera footage of him wearing a different shirt on the day of the killing to the one he had given to police for forensic testing.
The interviewing officer warned the boy to tell the truth, saying to be called a liar and unremorseful would show no morals or sense of responsibility for what he had done.
