Murder defendant Kirk Matthew Lankford will testify in his trial that victim Masumi Watanabe died as a result of an accident, his lawyer told jurors this afternoon.

Lankford will testify that he struck and slightly injured the victim, Masumi Watanabe, 21, while he was driving his work vehicle on Pupukea Road on April 12, 2007.

She voluntarily entered his car and he tried to take her home, but could not communicate with her because she spoke only Japanese, said Lankford's lawyer, Donald Wilkerson.

While Lankford was driving at approximately 40 miles per hour on Makana Road, Watanabe jumped out of the truck, struck her head on a boulder by the side of the road, and died, according to Wilkerson.

Fearing that he would lose his job, Lankford did not report the accident, but loaded the victim's body in the back of his truck and worked the rest of the day, according to Wilkerson.

That night, he attempted to bury the body at Kahana Bay, was interrupted by a passerby, then drove to an area near Kualoa Ranch on the Windward Oahu coast, the defense lawyer said.

Watanabe's body was in a plastic garbage bag sealed closed with duct tape.

"He walked her out into the ocean as far as he could," Wilkerson said, and "left her body there."

"It was a terrible accident," the lawyer said.

Watanabe's body was never recovered.

The trial continues tomorrow.