The mother of the man who stabbed Auckland teenager Christie Marceau to death hid all her kitchen knives when her son was bailed to her house.
Akshay Chand stabbed 18-year-old Christie to death after cornering her in the backyard of her family's North Shore home in November 2011. He was on bail on charges of kidnapping and threatening to rape her at the time.
In an earlier statement Chand's mother, Suchita, said whenever she left the house she "put all the knives in a compartment under the oven" and "would bring them back out when I got home".
Today she told an inquest into Christie's death that she had no idea that her son realised what she was doing.
Ms Chand said she hid the knives because she had been warned her son may be at risk of harming himself or others.
Chand was supposed to be on a 24-hour curfew at his family home while on bail. He was allowed to leave the property only for medical appointments in the company of his mother or aunt.
On the morning he left the house to kill Christie, his mother had already left for work.
Ms Chand said she first heard her son was missing when her daughter called her at work.
No one to call - Ms Chand
Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Chand said she wasn't given any information by the court or police about her son's bail conditions or what was expected of her while he was home on bail.
Chand was supposed to be on a 24-hour curfew at his mother's home when he was released.
The property was just over a kilometre from Christie's home and the Marceaus could see Chand's house from their deck.
Chand was allowed to leave the house under the supervision of his mother or his aunt and only for medical or legal appointments.
The day he left the house to kill Christie, his mother had already gone to work and the only person at home with him was his sister, who was still in bed at the time and just 17 years old.
Ms Chand said at the time her son was bailed, she was never given any contact details for anyone she could call if she had concerns.
She said she told her son's lawyer, Mary-Anne Lowe, that she worked in the mornings and would only be at home in the afternoon, but there would usually be someone else at the house with Chand - if not her, an aunt or his sister.
Ms Chand said because of her work commitments there was "no way" she could have supervised her son 24/7 and would not have agreed to that.
She said Chand got a letter from the court at the time he was bailed but that was not addressed to her. She said she recalled seeing that it set out conditions of his release including that he wasn't supposed to leave the house unless he was supervised by an adult.
Claims challenged
Under cross examination by the Marceaus' lawyer, Nikki Pender, Ms Chand accepted that her son's lawyer had told the court her family would be able to provide 24/7 supervision, according to a transcript of the hearing.
However Ms Chand maintained she was not expressly told that her son had to be under constant adult supervision.
And she said there was no follow up conversation about whether she could actually fulfill that obligation.
Ms Chand said Ms Lowe warned her that the seriousness of her son charges meant it would be difficult to get bail.
Under cross examination by Ms Lowe's lawyer Stuart Grieve QC, Ms Chand conceded that she had been specifically asked what assistance she and her sister could provide in order to make a successful bail application.
Mr Grieve asked whether she understood that Ms Lowe needed to know what could be done to monitor Chand if he got bail.
Ms Chand replied "yes".
Mr Grieve said: "I suggest to you the true situation is that she (Ms Lowe) explained carefully to you ... if he was granted bail he would need to be monitored 24 hours a day ... and you agreed to that."
Ms Chand said she didn't remember this.
Mr Grieve pointed out that Ms Lowe would be giving evidence under oath and "required to tell the truth".
And Ms Lowe would say she made it plain "you needed to monitor Akshay".
Ms Chand said she knew her son had to be monitored 24/7 but didn't think someone had to physically be with him.
"We did our best to take turns to look after him."
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