A 16-year-old youth charged with murdering another 16-year-old youth in Oamaru on April 1 was yesterday remanded to appear again in the Oamaru Youth Court on August 12.
The defendant sat quietly in court while his legal counsel, Bernadette Farnan and John Westgate, made legal arguments before Judge Paul Kellar to support an application to have oral evidence from three witnesses when a committal hearing on the charge is held.
Crown counsel Andrew McRae opposed the application.
Details of the legal submissions were suppressed by Judge Kellar because they contained details relating to the offence.
Judge Kellar reserved his decision on the application so he could review over the weekend witness statements which related to the application. He said he would deliver a decision next week.
The application to have oral evidence at the committal hearing is unusual and follows changes to court procedure made by the Government last year. Only one such order has been granted.
The usual procedure is for written evidence to be handed to the court to decide whether there is sufficient evidence to establish a prima facie and sufficient to commit a defendant for trial.
Five members of the victim's family were in court yesterday, and two from the defendant's family during the hearing.
There was a minor disruption when a woman opened the rear door of the closed court and yelled out the defendant's name.
