The jury in a murder trial in the High Court at Napier has heard that a rough sleeping Flaxmere man died after he was stabbed four times before being kicked and stomped on after an argument over a torch.
Haami Hanara, 14, is on trial charged with the murder of 40-year-old Kelly Donner, who was found with critical injuries outside a Flaxmere pub in March this year.
The Crown alleges Mr Hanara was the one who used a knife to inflict four stab wounds, one of which cut Mr Donner’s carotid artery in the neck which supplies blood from the heart to the brain causing him to bleed to death.
Crown Prosecutor Steve Manning addressed the jury in his opening statement and alleges Mr Hanara was part of a group of youths who were planning to steal alcohol from the rear yard of The Flax Bar and Eatery.
When inside the rear yard of the tavern the youths came across Mr Donner who was looking for cigarette butts with a torch, which Mr Hanara asked to borrow.
Manning told the court when Mr Donner asked for it back, Mr Hanara refused and Donner “got angry”.
Mr Donner then allegedly had a bottle smashed on his face and a fight broke out which moved onto the lawn outside the Flax Bar.
The Crown says CCTV footage shows Mr Donner was attacked with fence palings, more beer bottles and even had a bike thrown at him by the group of attackers.
When Donner began to retreat, Mr Hanara allegedly jumped on him and stabbed him four times, twice in the neck before falling to the ground.
However, this happens outside the vision captured by the CCTV.
The four other attackers then joined in the attack again, kicking and stomping Mr Donner before the group fled the area.
Mr Donner was then found by a member of the public on the ground.
Emergency services were called, but Mr Donner died at the scene.
Witness describes the moment a Flaxmere man died as blood was "shooting out" of his neck
A witness who found a Flaxmere man in a pool of blood has described blood "shooting out of his neck" as she called emergency services.
The witness, who has name suppression, found Mr Donner on the ground outside The Flax Bar and Eatery on Swansea Road in a pool of blood.
They told the jury Mr Donner tried to sit up but blood was "shooting out of his neck". When asked how far they described it as squirting half a metre.
"Yep it was shooting out through his fingers.
"There was just heaps of blood, I didn't want to touch him".
The witness said Mr Donner was struggling to breathe but heard him say "those bastards" and was asking the witness to "help him".
"He was gasping for air I knew he was struggling to breath but there was nothing I could do."
Crown Prosecutor Steve Mannning asked the witness what happened next.
"He died. He asked me to help him and then took a couple of breaths and died."
The jury also heard from another witness who regularly saw Mr Donner at the local laundromat where he would often hang out and charge his phone.
They described him as "always clean and nicely dressed."
They said Mr Donner was well known in the area and would often take her laundry to the car and also help people with their shopping and return trolleys from the local supermarket.
The defence has declined the opportunity to make an opening statement.
1 NEWS has chosen not to show the accused due to his age
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