The 14-year-old is on trial in the High Court at Dunedin for the murder of Enere Taana-McLaren, 16, following an incident in the bus hub in May.
The defendant pleaded not guilty on the basis of self-defence and at the outset of the trial his counsel Anne Stevens KC said her client began carrying a knife after being diagnosed with PTSD following a robbery in August 2023.
Today the jury watched the then 12-year-old's police interview, which took place two days after the incident.
He described walking to a friend’s house through Halfway Bush Park and being confronted by three males and a female.
The defendant said one of them held a 14-inch “dagger” while the other demanded his possessions.
He told police he was punched in the face, kicked, put in a chokehold and had his lollies and chips stolen from his backpack.
The assailants ran off when a construction worker from a nearby site witnessed what weas happening and called out.
That man later told police he had seen the defendant being put in a headlock but had not seen a weapon.
The court heard a 17-year-old – whose name was suppressed – was referred to police’s Youth Aid but no further action was taken other than informing the boy’s school.
Earlier today, the jury viewed another police interview - this time with the defendant in the role of alleged perpetrator rather than victim.
Just three hours after the fatal stabbing of Enere, the teen sat down with Detective Shelley Dodds and described getting off the bus, planning to visit a friend in Macandrew Bay.
He said as he passed Enere, the Trinity College student told him to pull down his socks and called him “b.... boy”.
“He was taller than me and, like, I was afraid of him, right. I’ve been bullied before and I’ve been assaulted before. That’s why I had a weapon on me today. I didn’t have any intentions of using it on anyone,” the defendant told police.
“I put my hand in the bag on the handle of the knife . . . my intention was to pull it out, wave it around and do something, probably make him scared or something.”
But he said Enere encouraged him to withdraw the weapon.
Det Dodds asked him how regularly he would carry a knife.
“Pretty often,” the teenager replied.
“It kind of gives me the sense of protection.”
Det Dodds asked him what was going through his head at the critical time of the stabbing.
“It wasn’t one thing. There was heaps of stuff going on,” the defendant said.
It was not possible to walk away, he said, because Enere was “kind of in my face, basically”.
Before the interview concluded Det Dodds asked the teen if he understood whether stabbing someone was wrong.
He said he did - “because someone could potentially die from those injuries”.
It was only minutes after cameras were turned off that police relayed the news that Enere had died and advised the boy he would be charged with murder.
Det Dodds agreed, under cross-examination, the defendant was “extremely distressed” and reacted by pulling his hoodie over his head.
Pathologist Andrew Gilkison said Enere suffered a stab wound, 2.3cm long and up to 12cm deep, to the left of his abdomen, which punctured the body’s largest vein.
The wound was so serious, the victim’s heart had stopped on arrival at hospital.
Despite efforts to restart the heart and urgent surgery “too much damage had already occurred”, Dr Gilkison said.
The trial continues.
