A 27-year-old man has been found guilty of the murder of Grace Millane, a British backpacker who disappeared a year ago in Auckland after going on a date.
Millane, 21, arrived in New Zealand in November 2018 as part of a round-the-world trip. She met the accused on 1 December for a Tinder date at the Sky City casino and later died in his room at the CityLife hotel after being strangled to death.
Her body was then contorted into a suitcase and buried in a shallow grave in the Waitakere ranges, a bushland area west of the city.[at]
The prosecution argued that the defendant used “reckless violence” while strangling Millane during consensual sex, and disregarded the risk to her life when choking her so hard and for so long that she died.
The defence counsel argued that Millane, from Essex, died accidentally in a “tragic” event that resulted from a toxic combination of alcohol, inexperience with BDSM practices and sexual passion going too far.