Judge to sum up in Arun Kumar murder trial

Arun Kumar was killed in his Auckland dairy. Photo / Supplied

A jury will today consider the guilt of two boys allegedly involved in the death of a west Auckland shopkeeper.

A 14-year-old boy is charged with the murder of Arun Kumar at the Railside Dairy in Henderson on June 10 last year.

His 13-year-old co-accused, who has stood trial alongside him the High Court at Auckland for the past three weeks, is charged with the manslaughter of Mr Kumar.

The pair - who have name suppression - also faced counts of assault with intent to rob but the Crown withdrew those charges last week.

"It's not because there wasn't an attempt at a robbery but that's not what this case is about. It's not about stealing something from the dairy, it's about Mr Kumar being killed by those young men," prosecutor Kieran Raftery said.

He told the jury during his closing that the murder-accused's explanation of self-defence was not backed by the evidence

"You can be forgiven for being a bit surprised because the person who's defending himself is Mr Kumar," Mr Raftery said.

"The self-defence notion is utter rubbish."

The Crown rejected any notion that the armed robbery was impromptu or that the boys did not have an idea about what might happen in the shop.

"They were not there for bottles of pop, they were there for money," Mr Raftery said.

"He had that knife at the ready."

However, defence counsel for the 14-year-old contended he was trying to protect himself as the shopkeeper advanced on him with a metal bar.

The lawyer for his co-defendant said there was less than three minutes for the boys to formulate a plan about robbing the dairy, which meant his client could not have reasonably foreseen the tragic events that unfolded.

Justice Graham Lang will sum up the case this morning before the jury deliberates.