A teenage murder accused confronted his victim at Dunedin’s bus hub because he did not want to be "the boy that can be bullied".
The now 14-year-old defendant, who has name suppression, spent yesterday in the witness box in the High Court at Dunedin, where he told the jury he did not plan to stab 16-year-old Enere Taana-McLaren, only to "drive him off".
The pair clashed over comments made when the younger boy disembarked a bus and passed the victim on the footpath.
He said Enere made a comment about his pulled-up socks and called him a "b .... boy".
The defendant said he responded with an expletive of his own before making a middle-fingered gesture.
When Enere allegedly called him "a sackless c...", CCTV footage showed the teen turning around and walking an estimated 10m back towards the Trinity College student.
Crown prosecutor Robin Bates said the defendant was bent on violence, angry about the insult that had been publicly dished out.
"No, I didn’t want to deal to him, I walked back to ask ‘what’s your problem with me?’," he said.
"I didn’t want to be sackless. I didn’t want to be the boy that can be bullied. I walked back to let him know I’m not scared of him."
He could have kept walking north towards his waiting bus, Mr Bates said.
CCTV footage of the pair squaring off was repeatedly replayed, showing the defendant taking several steps backwards before reaching into a black shoulder bag.
He told the court yesterday he was planning to remove the bag, considering a fist fight was imminent, but Enere asked what was inside it.
The defendant said he revealed the handle of the 31cm kitchen knife, a tactic which had defused a potentially violent situation at the bus hub a month earlier. But it had no effect.
"Enere didn’t budge. He was still standing there.
"I thought ‘I’m going to pull the knife out and try and chase him so I can get away’."
Mr Bates said as soon as the knife was brandished, the victim was sent into retreat.
Enere can be seen on camera aiming a kick at the defendant before being stabbed just moments later.
"I started running towards him with the knife, swinging wildly ... it was just after that kick that the knife penetrated his stomach," the defendant said.
"I immediately let go of the knife and it flew out of him."
Mr Bates suggested the boy pursued the victim for about 12m before the fatal blow was landed in the middle of Great King St.
"He backed away from you the moment the knife came out," the prosecutor said.
"You could’ve stopped chasing him a couple of metres along the footpath.
"You’re doing you best to stab him with the knife. You miss once, you succeed a second time."
But the defendant denied any vicious intent.
"I wasn’t following him, I was trying to chase him away," he said.
"I didn’t intend to stab him."
The teenager told the court he understood, at the time, a knife could cause serious harm but said he was ignorant to the fact a stabbing could be fatal.
After the stabbing, he described retreating to the north end of the bus hub as he watched the aftermath.
"I felt horrible that I stabbed him.
"In that moment when I saw him fall down, it hit me that I seriously wounded him.
"My vision was zoomed in to that wound."
Hours after the incident, at the police station, the defendant and his family were informed Enere had died.
"I couldn’t believe that I’m the one that took his life.
"I consistently have nightmares about Enere’s death and it keeps rewinding in my mind."
Cross-examination will continue today.
