The man accused of murdering Grace Millane gave police a string of false stories as part of his first interview on December 6.
Video footage of his interview has been played to the jury in his trial at the High Court in Auckland.
He told police that he last saw Ms Millane around 8pm following their December 1 Tinder date.
He said they had a kiss and a hug and arranged to meet for drinks the next day for her birthday.
The man, who can't be named, then described to police talking with Chinese tourists and then getting drunk at a Queen Street pub.
He told the police that he “can drink beer until the cows come home” and on weekends “ he tends to go crazy” when it comes to drinking.
Afterwards, he agreed to give a voluntary DNA sample.
He knocked on the door of the interview room and asked an officer "I'm not going to be arrested for something I didn't do?"
The man, 27, became a person of interest to police after posting a message on Ms Millane’s Facebook page.
Moments later, he is read his rights, and confronted with an image of him with a suitcase in the CityLife hotel lift, the morning after the date.
CCTV footage already played to the court shows that version of events was incorrect.
It shows the pair visiting a number of central Auckland establishments after they met at SkyCity.
Ms Millane is last seen alive leaving the lift at the CityLife hotel at 9.41pm, heading towards the defendant's room about four hours after they first met.
The jury heard detail about the final hours of the young visitor’s life.
The Crown says she was strangled to death some hours later in that room.
The defence team argue her death was an accident after he applied pressure to her neck during rough sex with her consent and encouragement.
Her body was discovered in a suitcase buried in bush in the Waitakere Ranges on December 9.
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