The defense in a North Shore murder case presented its case this morning with just one witness — the defendant himself — accused of killing and kidnapping 51-year-old Telma Boinville and kidnapping her 8-year-old daughter in 2017.

Stephen Brown testified that it was his then-girlfriend, Hailey Dandurand, then 20 years old, who killed Boinville Dec. 7, 2017, although he admitted to helping with tying up both mother and daughter.

He said Boinville confronted the pair, who broke into an unoccupied vacation rental, and that when Dandurand told her to lie on the floor, she complied and he helped tie her up with rope from their camping gear.

Brown said Dandurand told him to go outside and check if anyone else was around, which he said took 10 to 15 minutes. He said the next time he saw Boinville, she was covered in blood. He said he confronted Dandurand about it.

Brown told the jury that Boinville’s daughter, Makana Boinville Emery, who testified earlier in the trial, was mistaken when she said Brown told her, “We killed your mom.”

Instead he testified that he told the girl that her mom wanted her inside, and she walked into the house on her own from the family’s gold Toyota Tacoma pickup truck.

Brown said he did carry her upstairs but shielded her eyes from seeing her mother’s bloody body on the living room floor, then tied her to a bedpost.

Brown also testified as to what happened before and after Boinville was killed, and their capture at the Mililani Town Center.