One of three Crips gang members accused of murdering a rival Blood gang member in prison sent a series of text messages calling for violence against the Bloods prior to the killing,

One of three Crips gang members accused of murdering a rival Blood gang member in prison sent a series of text messages calling for violence against the Bloods prior to the killing, a court has been told.

Samoan born Tue Faavae, 23, was found strangled to death in a shower block at Auckland Prison at Paremoremo on March 1, 2009. He had also been stabbed in the face.

Three other inmates, who all have name suppression, are on trial in the High Court at Auckland charged with his murder.

During the trial one of the men, a 29-year-old, made the unexpected admission he alone had killed Faavae because he was angry and upset after a fellow Crip was assaulted by Bloods.

Faavae is said to have disrespected the Crips after the assault by laughing about it and yelling ''Bs up'' (a pro-Bloods call), although he was not involved the attack.

The accused went to Faavae's cell block and covered the security cameras with toothpaste, getting his co-accused to help but not explaining what he was doing, the court was told on Friday.

Punches were thrown but things turned more serious when Faavae produced a sharp metal shank and tried to stab his opponent several times.

The accused reached for his own weapon, an electrical cord, which he initially used like a knuckle duster but ended up using to strangle Faavae to death.

He then enlisted his co-accused to help carry him to the shower block, where he returned a short time later and, he says, stabbed him around the face.

''At that time I was still angry and confused at what happened. I went back to the shower and saw his face, I pulled the shank out of my pocket and gave him a couple of stabs,'' he told the court today.

''Looking at it now I don't know why I did it, but I did it.''

Crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb read out a series of text messages the man allegedly sent to his co-accused and to other gang members, calling for violence against the Bloods.

''Can't wait to get out of here so we can kill those c****,'' one message said.

''Put the call out to your boys to smash any Bloods,'' said another.

The accused said he could not remember sending most of the messages and that his phone was regularly shared with other inmates.

Mr Glubb said the man had also arranged to be moved to an upstairs cell block so he could get closer to the Bloods, which the man denied.

He said there had also been communication between the three accused on the day of the killing and that another of the men had told Faavae ''you're next''.

The man's lawyer, Simon Lance, yesterday asked the jury to make allowances for his client's lack of education and to take into account the prison environment in which the killing occurred.

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