Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
- Enere Taana-McLaren, 16, was stabbed at Dunedin's bus hub on 23 May, 2024.
- A 13-year-old boy was charged with his murder, and pleaded not guilty.
- A three-and-a-half week jury trial began in the Dunedin High Court last week.
The teenager accused of murdering a Dunedin student says he pulled the knife out of his bag and started swinging it wildly to drive the other boy away.
The now 14-year-old is defending a charge of murder of 16-year-old Enere Taana-McLaren in the Dunedin High Court, saying it was done in self-defence.
The teenager, who has interim name suppression, told the jury that he had arrived at the bus hub and was walking to another bus when the older boy told him to 'pull my socks down, bitch boy'.
He didn't know the other boy, and said he only noticed him when he walked past him, but saw in the CCTV footage that Taana-McLaren looked directly at him.
He told him to 'f**k off' and gave him the middle finger to show him he wasn't interested and was just wanted to go to his next bus, he said.
Taana-McLaren called him a "sackless c**t", threatening to smash him over and gesturing him to come back, which he did, walking towards him and asking what was his problem because he wanted the older boy to think he was tough, the defendant said.
He started walking backwards when the older boy looked like he was limbering up for a fight and approached him.
"I was pretty frightened, nervous."
He thought there would be a fight and went to put down his bag, telling the older boy there was a knife in it after he asked what was in his bag.
His defence lawyer previously told the court that he started carrying a knife after an assault almost a year earlier.
Taana-McLaren told him to "get it out, get it out," the defendant said.
Enere Taana-McLaren was 16 when he died. Photo: Facebook screenshot
He told the jury that, he had previously "flashed" the knife at another boy to get him to leave him alone at the bus hub on a different day and that the other boy had walked away.
On this day, he said that didn't work.
He pulled the knife, running and chasing him while swinging the knife wildly so he could drive him away and carry on his bus trip, not thinking of anything else, he said.
The other boy kicked him in the head and he swung the knife, but let it go after feeling the blade go into the other boy, he said.
"I felt horrible that I stabbed him," the defendant said.
He described being worried about the other boy and asking about him while waiting at the police station after his arrest.
He was angry with himself that the other boy was in hospital and it was all his fault.
He found out Taana-McLaren was dead after his police interview, saying he broke down and couldn't believe he was the one to kill him, even if he didn't intend it to happen.
He didn't remember everything that happened including swinging the knife twice at the other boy, saying it became clearer after he watched the CCTV footage.
Defence lawyer Anne Stevens KC asked him about a witness who told the court that the defendant said Taana-McLaren deserved what happened.
He said he didn't say or yell it, but he was not saying the witness was lying.
Stevens asked him about a witness' account that Taana-McLaren had asked didn't he remember when he knocked him out, but the defendant said he didn't hear that and had never been near him before.
