Two former lovers accused of the joint murder of a Cordeaux Heights man in 2011 have faced a Sydney courtroom this week as bitter rivals, with both claiming the other was responsible for committing the crime.
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Jason Hiroki and Aroha Hiroki - long-term lovers as well as first cousins - are on trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of killing Nick Katopodis at their Mount St Thomas home on July 27, 2011, following a lengthy drinking session that began several hours earlier at the Hellenic Club in Figtree.
However, the court heard the pair each deny taking part in the killing, and will lay the blame squarely at each other's feet.
"He says she did it, she says he did, and the Crown says they both did it," Aroha Hiroki's lawyer, Ragni Mathur, told the jury.
"You, members of the jury, will have the final say."
Crown prosecutor Tony McCarthy opened the case against the pair by detailing the last time anyone other than the Hirokis saw Mr Katopodis alive.
He anticipated a witness who was with the Hirokis and Mr Katopodis on the night of July 27 would say there was a violent altercation involving the victim and Jason Hiroki at the Hiroki household.
"Mr Katopodis got up to go to the toilet, he was quite intoxicated," Mr McCarthy said.
"Jason Hiroki noticed Mr Katopodis urinating all over the bathroom floor; that made him angry.
"Jason Hiroki punched Mr Katopodis and for a brief moment knocked him unconscious."
It is alleged Mr Katopodis was killed sometime later that night in a violent, bloody assault.
The court heard another witness would likely tell the jury that a few days later, Jason Hiroki came to his property at Dapto saying he had "killed a bloke" and asked to borrow items to "bury the body".
Mr Katopodis was reported missing by concerned family members in August.
Jason Hiroki was arrested and charged with murder the following month.
He was due to stand trial in February 2013 but just days before it was scheduled to begin, he confessed to police that Mr Katopodis' remains were located under the Mount St Thomas house, where he had buried them following the killing 18 months earlier.
In court on Tuesday, Jason Hiroki pleaded guilty to a charge of being an accessory after the fact to murder, but not guilty to murder, claiming he was asleep on the couch when Aroha Hiroki woke him to say she had "whacked" Mr Katopodis because he'd tried to "come on" to her.
Jason Hiroki later told police he buried the body under the house without telling police what had happened because he thought they would immediately blame him for the death.
Aroha Hiroki was charged with murder in March 2013.
Meantime, Ms Mathur gave a very different version of events in court on Tuesday on behalf of Aroha Hiroki, saying Jason Hiroki killed Mr Katopodis in a fit of rage by bashing him with a lawn bowl and a glass bottle.
He then dragged the body outside to a backyard shed, before returning to the house and threatening Aroha Hiroki's life.
"He said to her 'if you ever say anything I will kill you, and you know I will'," Ms Mathur said.
"She tells police she of all people knows what he's capable of."
Ms Mathur said the issue of domestic violence, fear and duress in the relationship would be a live issue in the case.
