A 14-year-old boy accused of murder described the moment he realised he had stabbed another teenager during a confrontation at the Dunedin bus hub.
The trial began last week in the Dunedin High Court before Justice Robert Osborne.
Defence counsel Anne Stevens KC told the jury the boy, who has name suppression, had chosen to testify in his own defence.
This morning, the defendant described the struggle and the instant he saw the knife penetrate 16-year-old Enere Taana-McLaren’s stomach.
He told the court he immediately let go, and the knife “flew out of Enere with force”.
Police officers at a scene of the incident last year. Photo / Ben Tomsett
CCTV footage previously shown in court captured the knife spinning through the air before hitting the ground.
The defendant said that during and after the fight with Taana-McLaren he felt overwhelmed, describing his thoughts as “hazy and dazed”.
“I thought on the day I swung the knife once at him ... but after watching CCTV footage and after the interview, I saw that I swung the knife twice – there was the second swing, and I also saw that I chased him with the knife.”
The pair were separated by a bus hub security guard and a member of the public.
The defendant walked away to a nearby store, where two girls approached him.
“They were talking to me, I could see their mouths moving but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I was looking at Enere, I saw him lift his shirt and saw the blood on his stomach, and saw him fall down,“ he said.
“Then the police officers came and arrested me.”
The defendant said he felt “horrible” in that moment.
“I saw him fall down, and it just hit me that I seriously wounded him ... It was like my vision was zoomed into the wound. The girls were screaming at me, but I was focused on the bro and him on the floor.”
The court earlier heard that on the day of the incident, the accused had been sent home from school after being accused of vaping in a bathroom by a prefect, which he maintained to the court was a case of mistaken identity.
He later sent a message to a friend, saying he wanted to “smash over” the prefect and called them a “sackless c***”.
That afternoon, the defendant told the court he asked his mother for permission to travel on the bus to Macandrew Bay, which would require a transfer at the bus hub.
He used his bus card to pay the fare, and by chance encountered a friend on the bus who gave him a balaclava in exchange for some sweets.
“I just put [the balaclava] on because [my friend] gave it to me when I gave him my bag.”
Enare Taana-McLaren died of a single stab wound at the Dunedin bus hub on May 23, 2024. Photo / Ben Tomsett
He said he did not mean anything by wearing the balaclava, and pulled it down to expose his face so he would appear polite to the driver when he thanked him.
As he left the bus at the bus hub, he encountered Taana-McLaren for the first time, he said.
“When I walked past him, he told me to pull my socks down, ‘b***h boy’. I barely looked at him. I looked at my socks, I told him to f**k off and showed my middle finger, then continued walking.”
He said Taana-McLaren responded by calling him a “sackless c***” and threatening to “smash [him] over.”
Wanting to appear tough and to avoid being bullied, he turned around.
“Experience told me that if they proceed to think that I’m tough, then they’re not gonna want to bully me, and that’s why I turned around and looked at him.”
The defendant told the court Taana-McLaren then gestured for him to come closer.
“I started walking forward with the thought in my mind to ask him, ‘What’s your problem with me? I don’t even know you.’”
When he approached, he said Taana-McLaren began stamping loudly, dropped his bag, and appeared to prepare for a fight.
“I was pretty frightened, I was pretty anxious, I was nervous, I was a bit shaken because it was unexpected,” he said.
“It was just like, I shouldn’t be here. It didn’t feel right.”
The defendant said he was taking off his satchel bag, thinking a fistfight might occur.
When Taana-McLaren asked what was in the bag, he said there was a knife inside.
The court earlier heard that the defendant began carrying knives following an assault and robbery at a local park.
“[Taana-McLaren] said, ‘Pull it out, you won’t use it.‘”
“I thought, ‘I’m gonna pull the knife out and drive him off and try and chase him with it so he could leave me alone.’”
Taana-McLaren did not back away.
Following the defendant’s arrest, he was taken to the police station and interviewed, where he was informed there was a chance Taana-McLaren might not survive.
“I felt very concerned about him. I kept asking the police if they knew how he was doing, and I felt pretty worried. I felt extremely sad and I felt really angry with myself that he’s at the hospital and it’s my fault.”
Later, a detective broke the news that Taana-McLaren had died.
“I broke down. I felt like I never felt before,” the defendant said.
“It was the most unexpected thing. I couldn’t believe that I’m the one that took his life. To this point, I constantly have nightmares about Enere’s death ... I feel horrible with myself that I’m the one that took his life.”
Crown prosecutor Robin Bates questioned the defendant on a statement he made to the police following his earlier assault and robbery in a park, where the defendant admitted in court that he had not been truthful to police.
The defendant told the court he lied about not knowing who his attackers were, as he did not want to escalate the situation.
Bates put it to the defendant he was attempting to make this assault appear more serious than it was, which the defendant denied.
He put to the defendant that he had not told police that he had “blacked out” during the assault, as he had later told the court.
In the coming days, the jury will hear evidence from the defendant’s mother, the defendant’s school councillor, a forensic psychiatrist and two others who have alleged they were previously assaulted by Taana-McLaren at the bus hub, including a 68-year-old man.
The trial continues.
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist for the New Zealand Herald, based in Dunedin.
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