A teenager has been found guilty of manslaughter but acquitted of murdering 16-year-old Enere Taana-McLaren in Dunedin last year.
The jury delivered its verdict on Monday in Dunedin’s High Court after deliberations began late Wednesday afternoon.
The then 13-year-old, who has interim name suppression, killed Taana-McLaren during a confrontation between the teenagers at Dunedin’s central city bus hub last May.
The defendant’s lawyer said it was done in self-defence, but the Crown said he initiated the confrontation before pursuing and stabbing the older boy.
The defendant’s sentencing and custodial status will be addressed later Monday morning, according to the Otago Daily Times.
Sixty seconds was the time it took for the teenager to get off his bus to the two boys being separated with Taana-McLaren clutching the stab wound in his abdomen.
Throughout the trial, the jury watched the graphic CCTV footage showing them squaring off on the footpath after insults were made, the knife being taken out and the younger boy appearing to lunge and run at Taana-McLaren who backed onto the road before the older boy kicked him in the head.
They grappled and two swings were made.
The second stabbed 10 to 12 centimetres through Taana-McLaren’s stomach to the muscles near his spine.
He died in hospital later that day.
On Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Richard Smith told the jury the accused teen chose to chase and attack Taana-McLaren with a knife because he didn’t want to damage his “gangster persona” or look like a coward after being verbally accosted.
It was not self-defence, it was murder, with the 14-year-old telling a psychiatrist that he did not want to be a “sackless c***”, Smith said.
He was “up for a fight”, Smith said.
In her closing remarks, defence lawyer Anne Stevens KC said her client was a scared little boy who had PTSD from an earlier assault and carried a knife to feel safer, only pulling it out to drive away the bigger, aggressive boy who looked ready to fight.
“It was a David-and-Goliath situation. David did not have a slingshot, he had a knife.”
He now suffered from anxiety, depression and flashbacks, and had nightmares after Taana-McLaren’s death, she said.
Ministry of Justice figures show 29 people aged 19 and under have been convicted of murder offences between 2014-2024.
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