A teenager in the wrong place at the wrong time was murdered in a South Auckland suburb by brutal strikes to his head from a metal baseball bat wielded by Jeffrey Alailima Key, a jury has been told today.
Key, 26, is on trial at the High Court at Auckland, charged with the murder of Riki Mafi, 17, who died following an attack in Otara town centre in 2006.
Crown prosecutor Kevin Glubb said Key was clearly responsible for Mr Mafi's death and knew what he was doing when he swung his bat at Mr Mafi.
Opening the case for the Crown today, Mr Glubb said Key left his Manukau home with his baseball bat on the afternoon of September 2, 2006 to join associates at a Fulton Crescent address, near Otara town centre.
Later that day, Mr Glubb said a woman who was around the town centre was told by one of two people sitting on a grassy mound in the town centre that they wanted her to get a knife so they could stab someone at the Fulton Crescent address.
The woman then went to the address and told this to the occupants.
"Sadly, that foolish remark effectively lit the fuse for what then ensued," Mr Glubb said.
Key and his associates went over to the Otara town centre. After they chased one man, they returned to the town centre about 11.30pm. Three men were present.
Mr Glubb said Mr Mafi was not there when the woman was asked to get a knife. He arrived some time later and stopped when two men asked if he had cigarette papers.
He said one man ran away after seeing Key and his associates approach. A second was punched to the ground but eventually got away, but Mr Mafi was not so fortunate as Key struck him so hard that he felled him.
"Thereafter he is said to have struck him at least once more again to the head with the bat, and he is also said to have kicked him before he was dragged off by other members of that group."
Mr Mafi was taken to Middlemore Hospital, where he died in the early hours of September 5 of traumatic head injury.
Mr Glubb told jurors they would have to decide whether Key meant to kill Mr Mafi, or if he knew the blows he dished out could have killed Mr Mafi but was reckless in choosing to run the risk of doing so.
He described the assault on Mr Mafi as "brutal and unprovoked".
It is the second trial for Key. His first trial last year was abandoned in its second week.
Evidence from 28 witnesses was expected to be presented to the jury of 10 women and two men at the trial, which is scheduled for three weeks.
