The family of slain dairy owner Arun Kumar will privately mark the first anniversary of his death today, as the trial continues for two schoolboys charged over the incident that left him bleeding from the neck on the floor of his Henderson store.
Mr Kumar's wife and two children have sat quietly in court through the second week of the trial at the High Court in Auckland, where a 14-year-old boy is charged with murder and his co-accused, aged 13, is on trial for manslaughter. Mr Kumar was stabbed in front of his wife during what the Crown contends was a violent plan to carry out a robbery at his Railside Dairy on June 10 last year.
The Crown is today expected to call a young witness who was with the boys the night before the killing and who confronted them when they returned home after fleeing the scene. Because of her age, she will give evidence via closed-circuit-television in another part of the courthouse.
Yesterday, a 14-year-old witness told the jury there was "hardly a plan at all" for the robbery. Defence lawyers grilled the boy about his recollection of the night before the incident, and what was said as he followed the two defendants to the dairy the next morning. He repeatedly denied acting as a lookout for the pair, or that he was privy to conversations about planning the robbery as they made their way to the store.
The schoolboys on trial, who were aged 12 and 13 at the time of Mr Kumar's death, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. The pair, who have name suppression, also deny counts of assault with intent to rob.
