Davender Singh and his wife planned to return to India and open a business, before a stranger fatally stabbed him, she told police.
But the Crown said it was his wife Amandeep Kaur and her lover Gurjinder Singh who planned and carried out the murder last year, and the story of a stranger was a fabrication.
Amandeep Kaur (left) sitting in the dock at the Auckland High Court with a translator (right). Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
The first of several recorded interviews that Mrs Kaur gave to police is being played at the High Court in Auckland today.
In it, Mrs Kaur wept and asked to see her husband's body.
She and her husband were sitting in their car when a stranger came to the window and demanded money, before snatching her husband's phone and stabbing him to death, she said.
She told police they had been married for 13 years and had been saving money so they could open a business on their return to India.
The Crown said the story was a lie and notes found by police showed Mrs Kaur and her lover planned how, when and where to carry out the murder.