A man accused of murdering a missing Sydney woman said he didn't want police spending time investigating him instead of looking for her, a jury has been told.
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James Hachem also asked a friend to mention to police that he was from a good Christian home, and that he and the woman were just "friends with benefits".
The friend, Joshua Gynther, gave evidence on Thursday at Hachem's NSW Supreme Court trial.
The 36-year-old has pleaded not guilty to murdering 30-year-old Samah Baker on January 4, 2019. Her body has never been found.
Relatives reported the TAFE worker missing after a friend dropped her off at her Parramatta home in the early hours of that day.
Mr Gynther said Hachem mentioned Ms Baker to him in about 2015, saying: "She is just a f*** buddy, a friend with benefits".
In December 2018, Hachem told him he had not seen her for a few weeks, then in January 2019 he told him she had gone missing.
"I was just so shocked and I thought he was joking," Mr Gynther said.
When he questioned Hachem about where she was "the general gist was that he didn't know, he thought she had run away".
"I gave her some money just before she left," Hachem told him.
He also said he was concerned that police will be spending too much time looking at him rather than looking for Ms Baker.
When Mr Gynther later told him police had reached out to him, Hachem asked if he would mention that he "was from a good Christian home and Samah and I were just friends with benefits".
Sometime after Hachem told him Ms Baker was missing, Mr Gynther said he asked him about a news report that included a video depicting her in a lift with Hachem whose face was blurred out.
Hachem told him another guy had dropped Ms Baker home and he saw her after that.
He told Mr Gynther: "I came to her house and she told me to be quiet because her roommate was asleep. She was watching Netflix and I stayed until the next morning".
He saw Hachem on January 5 when they had brunch and played video games, on January 6 when they saw a movie and on January 7 when they saw another film.
He seemed his normal self.
But job centre worker Inaam Tabbah testified that Hachem attended the organisation to take part in a project on January 4 when "he didn't seem himself".
"He looked down a lot, he didn't want to speak a lot, he looked tired, he kept to himself," she said.
Earlier, a police officer gave evidence about a search of an area, including bushland, near Nowra.
Nothing was found relevant to the investigation into Ms Baker's disappearance.
They did discover two holes where the ground appeared to have been disturbed, indicating a digging activity.
The site was 16 kilometres away from a property owned by a relative of Hachem's.
The trial continues before Justice Robertson Wright
Australian Associated Press
