Hawke's Bay teen denies knowledge of fatal stabbing

A memorial tree planted in Flaxmere where Kelly Donner (top) died. Haami Hanara (below) denies murdering Donner. Photo / File

A 14-year-old boy accused of murder has given evidence that he did not know how a man was stabbed and left "crawling away to die".

Haami Hanara's denial that he killed 40-year-old Kelly Donner came in the last moments of day four of his High Court trial before Justice Peter Churchman and a jury of seven women and five men in Napier.

The Crown alleges Hanara fatally stabbed Donner, 40, after attacking him after an argument over a torch in the Flaxmere Tavern carpark on March 4.

In an opening address to the jury, defence counsel Eric Forster said his client's defence would be that "Haami did not do it deliberately".

"At the outset we can simply see Haami was holding the knife when Kelly Donner received the wounds in his throat, one to the shoulder area and one to his chest area.

"What the defence is in a nut shell, is that Haami did not do it deliberately."

"Just because Kelly Donner died, that doesn't mean anyone intended for him to die."

During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Steve Manning challenged Hanara as to how he obtained the knife and what he was doing with it.

Hanara said he got the knife from one of the other teenagers.

Manning: "Haami. You know you stabbed Kelly, don't you?."

Hanara: "No."

Manning: "The only person who had the knife was you?"

Hanara did not reply.

Manning: "Do you remember now?."

Hanara: "No."

Manning: "We've heard evidence that Kelly was crawling away ... he was crawling away to die because you stabbed him, didn't you?"

Hanara: "No."

The prosecutor also challenged Hanara on the evidence of a witness who said Hanara was heard saying: "I stabbed him. Run."

Hanara denied saying those words.

Donner had become angry after lending his torch to Hanara, who passed it on to another youth attempting to hot wire a vehicle.

A group of five youths - including Hanara - had come across Donner, who was known to sleep rough, who was using his torch to search for cigarette butts.

Hanara told Forster that Donner became angry and started yelling, telling Hanara to get his (Donner's) torch back from his (Hanara's) friend.

When Donner failed to get the torch back Hanara said the man began to "threaten them".

"I told him to go because it would end bad, everyone was starting to get angry," Hanara said.

Taking Hanara through CCTV footage, Forster referred the teen to a still image where it showed Hanara holding a knife.

He asked Hanara how blood got on the knife.

"He (Donner) got stabbed," Hanara said.

Forster: "Do you know how that happened?"

Hanara: "No."

The trial started on Monday with Hanara pleading not guilty to a charge of murdering Donner on March 4 this year, and guilty to burglary of a Flaxmere Tavern compound near where Donner died.

The trial resumes tomorrow.