Police test alibi for accused

Jurors who are to decide a murder charge against the man charged with killing his Palmerston North drug associate Nicholas Pike heard the final day of evidence yesterday.

The trial of Stephen Thomas Hudson is due to start hearing closing arguments on Monday.

The jury heard yesterday how the police investigated the alibi that the family of Hudson, 39, has given him for March 18, 2002, when he is accused of murdering Pike, 22, in the Desert Road area of the central North Island. His body has not been found.

The jury heard that when the Crown was told who was to give alibi evidence for Hudson police made their own inquiries, including collecting text messages between some of the people involved and being allowed to tap their phone calls.

They re-interviewed the family to clear up what were seen as discrepancies.

But part of the reason was to see if the police visits generated any phone traffic that investigators could use, a witness said.

One of the witnesses was then charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice, but the man told the jury this week that he did not lie to police.

The trial enters its fifth week on Monday when the Crown is expected to make its final address to the jury.

The jury was told at the start of the trial that one of the issues it has to decide is whether Mr Pike is dead.