One of two teenage girls charged with the murder of a 78-year-old Opotiki man has finished giving evidence.

Eighteen-year-old Courtney Churchward and a 15-year-old girl have pleaded not guilty to murdering John Rowe in November last year.

Mr Rowe's family sat embracing each other in the public gallery, visibly upset as details of the attack were relayed to the older of the accused.

When asked to hold the stick used to hit Mr Rowe, Churchward turned away and refused to hold it or even look at it. She said after briefly seeing the blood on Mr Rowe's face during the attack, she did not want to remember the injuries she had caused.

Churchwood referred to the burglary as a "burg" and told the court whenever she carried them out she would cover up in disguise from head to toe.