A 15-year-old tagger died "within a couple of minutes" after being stabbed in the heart, a jury was told on the opening day of a trial in Auckland today.
Bruce Emery, 50, is accused of murdering Pihema Clifford Cameron after he found him tagging in Manurewa, south Auckland, on January 26 and chased him with a knife.
The five-day trial began in the High Court in Auckland today.
Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins told the court Pihema Cameron had been out with a 16-year-old relative with several spray cans which they used to tag properties near Pihema Cameron's home in Manurewa.
Mr Perkins told the jury of four men and eight woman Emery used a black handled knife to kill Pihema Cameron.
He said the knife entered the right side of the youth's chest.
"It went into his right lung causing his lung to collapse. The knife then carried on to enter one of the two major pumping chambers of his heart.
"Pihema Cameron started to lose a great deal of blood very quickly and died within a couple of minutes," Mr Perkins said.
The Crown alleged Emery said Pihema Cameron had tagged his garage door that night. He armed himself with a knife and chased him a considerable distance along Mahia Rd.
"Emery was extremely angry with what had gone on and vented that anger by using the knife. In effect he took the law into his own hands. This killing was quite unnecessary. It was completely avoidable and had no legal justification," Mr Perkins said.
The court heard the crown case would consist of 15 witnesses.
Mr Perkins told the court before the stabbing Pihema Cameron and his relative, whose name was suppressed, had been consuming alcohol and cannabis at the beach. After watching a movie about 10pm they decided to tag properties.
During the tagging they ran off when a man called out and asked what they were doing.
A man chased the two boys for about 300 metres before Pihema Cameron turned and faced him with his fists up.
Emery had his knife out and was advancing while waving it about, Mr Perkins said.
The court heard Cameron's relative told the man to go away as Cameron used his spray can to try to stop the man with the knife.
The trial is continuing.
