The concrete lion statue at the centre of a demon possession claim looks less angry now than it did when it was at the Wainuiomata flat where Janet Moses died, a jury has heard.

The Crown claims the 22-year-old mother-of-two drowned during a ceremony to exorcise a curse or makutu on October 12, 2007. A kaumatua, or elder, had linked the demon possession to a lion statue that Ms Moses' sister had taken from the Greytown Hotel a few weeks earlier.

In the High Court at Wellington today witness Horo Kepa said that in October 2007 he had heard about the lion and went to look at it.

It was behind his grandparents' Wainuiomata flat. It had been covered and when he removed the cover the statue looked angry and wild.

He was asked if it was the same statue that is an exhibit before the court.

"Yes, but it looked angrier than that," he told prosecutor Grant Burston.

Mr Kepa's parents are among nine of Ms Moses' uncles and aunts charged with her manslaughter.

But witnesses from the family have told the jury they thought they had to help remove the makutu, or curse, and that Ms Moses would have wanted them to help.

CHILD'S ABNORMAL, SCARY VISION

Earlier today the court heard that Ms Moses' young daughter had a vision of her grandfather and her dead grandmother talking about Ms Moses with blood around her mouth.

Ms Moses' daughter Keita had her third birthday two days after her mother died.

In court today Ms Moses' cousin Natalie Wharepapa, whose parents are among the nine charged with Ms Moses' manslaughter, said she sought the advice of older members of the family when Keita talked about her "vision".

Keita said she had seen her paternal grandparents, one of whom had died more than 20 years earlier, at her parents home talking about her mother and saying she had blood on her mouth.

Ms Wharepapa said she thought it abnormal and scary.

After asking for advice the decision was made to take Keita and several other children to the Wainuiomata flat where Ms Moses and other members of the extended family had gathered.

But when Keita saw her mother she screamed and did not want to go near her, and Ms Moses did nothing in response.

"Janet was normally the best mother you could get," Ms Wharepapa said.

The trial is continuing.

THE ACCUSED



* Nine members of Janet Moses' extended family are charged with her manslaughter, which the Crown alleges was the result of an attempt to remove a curse - a makutu - or evil spirit.

* The accused are: John Tahana Rawiri, 49, Georgina Aroha Rawiri, 50, Aroha Gwendoline Wharepapa, 48, Hall Jones Wharepapa, 46, Tanginoa Apanui, 42, Angela Rangiaroha Orupe, 46, Gaylene Tangiohorere Kepa, 44, Alfred Hughes Kepa, 48, and Glenys Lynette Wright, 52. All are siblings of Ms Moses' mother, or their partners.

* Two people, whose names are suppressed, are charged with cruelty to a 14-year-old girl in their care.

* The charges date from October 12, 2007, at Wainuiomata, when the Crown alleges Ms Moses and others were subjected to a water-based ceremony.