‘I have killed her with my hands and feet.’

After brutally bashing his partner, a man made a chilling phone call to police and said: ‘I have killed her with my hands and feet. I have beaten her and killed her,’ a court has heard.

James William Te Hiko, 44, is charged with murdering Queenie Karaka, also known as Selena Thompson, stuff reports. He admits causing her death, but denies that he intended for her to die.

On the first day of his trial at the High Court in Rotorua, New Zealand, on Monday, crown prosecutor Amanda Gordon said Queenie Karaka was so badly injured she was unrecognisable.

Blood was found throughout the house and up the walls in the couple’s bedroom, and a large metal pipe had also been used, Ms Gordon said.

When Te Hiko’s mother, Lexi Te Hiko took to the stand she said her son had called her the morning of the attack in April last year.

‘He just started mumbling and sniffing – I knew something was wrong,’ she said.

As she left the witness stand, she blew kisses to her son, who said, ‘Sorry Mum,’ stuff reports.

The trial continues.