The defendant appeared before the High Court at Dunedin this morning after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 16-year-old Trinity College pupil Enere McLaren-Taana following a jury trial in March.
Justice Rob Osborne declined an application for a discharge without conviction and said the likelihood the boy would now be deported, along with other family members, was not enough to tip the balance in his favour.
He described the crime as “grave offending” and rejected the defendant’s explanation he was attempting to defend himself during the flashpoint in May last year.
However, Justice Osborne – contrary to the desires of Enere’s family – permanently suppressed the boy’s name.
“We’re not happy with the outcome today. Personally I don’t think that’s enough, nowhere near enough,” Enere’s father John McLaren said.
“Things need to change, the system in this country is f...ed.”
At the outset of today’s hearing, he recalled the harrowing moments of seeing his son’s lifeless body in the hospital.
“That moment of pain, real pain,” he said.
Mr McLaren said he had been made redundant after the tragedy and thought it likely he would never work again, “because all I f...ing do is cry”.
“I can’t move on. It’s too hard. I miss my son.”
Mr McLaren’s son Rick, Enere’s brother, said the killer would never be forgiven.
“I wish you nothing but f...ing misery. Maybe then you’ll get a wee sniff of the trauma you put me and my family through,” he said.
“I’ll never feel sorry for you or your family . . . you are a coward and that’s all you’ll ever f...ing be.”
CCTV footage viewed by the jury showed the defendant arrive at the bus hub on the afternoon of May 23 last year.
The court heard he planned to change buses to visit a friend but turned and backtracked when he heard a derogatory comment from Enere regarding his clothing.
Justice Osborne noted the victim immediately retreated.
The defendant pursued Enere as he back-pedalled into the middle of Great King St.
The victim aimed a kick at the younger boy’s head, who then began swinging “wildly” with the knife.
After missing once, the defendant stabbed Enere, severing a major vein.
He later died in hospital.
"What you had was the potential for a fist fight, from which it was entirely open to you to have withdrawn,” the judge said.
“It was an aggressive attack with a weapon.”
Crown prosecutor Richard Smith argued it was not a case of excessive self-defence, something with which the judge concurred.
The defendant, Mr Smith said, was “clearly spoiling for a violent confrontation” and his actions were guided by his desire not to appear cowardly in front of his peers.
“It wasn’t a slash or waving of the knife, it was a full-force stab wound.”
Counsel Anne Stevens stressed her client's mental state at the time was coloured by the fact he had been the victim of a violent robbery nine months before the bus-hub incident.
Justice Osborne agreed the background explained why the boy had acted in the way he did.
Mrs Stevens said the teen was now “permanently and deeply” affected by what had happened.
A conviction would likely lead to his eventual deportation, and incarceration would destroy the support networks he had built, she said.
Mrs Stevens also pressed the case for permanent name suppression.
“[He] has suffered and continues to do so, as he sees it will never leave him,” she said.
“It may well kill him, though we hope not.”
Justice Osborne accepted the defendant was genuinely remorseful and addressed his closing remarks to the boy.
“You have an opportunity, denied to Enere, to live a good life and contribute to society,” he said.
“You owe it to yourself, you owe it to your family but most of all you owe it to Enere and his family."
Tensions bubbled over in the courtroom after the sentencing concluded but outside, the victim’s family remembered with tearful smiles the “smart, cocky, talented, good-looking" teenager they missed.
“Our house is empty because I haven’t got my smart-arsed boy’s voice giving me s... all the time,” Mr McLaren said.
“But he knew he was loved by everyone here.”
