Kumar trial: Robbery 'hardly a plan at all'

Arun Kumar was allegedly stabbed to death in his Henderson dairy.

A year since the death of Arun Kumar, a jury has been told there was "hardly a plan at all" for the robbery which left the Auckland dairy owner bleeding from the neck on the floor of his Henderson store.

The trial is continuing in the High Court at Auckland for two schoolboys charged with killing the father-of two.

A 14-year-old boy is on trial for murder, while his 13-year-old co-accused faces a charge of manslaughter. The pair, who have name suppression, also deny counts of assault with intent to rob.

A witness, aged 14, has told of the moments leading up to the incident on June 10 last year when Mr Kumar, 57, was stabbed in the neck in front of his wife during what the Crown contends was a violent plan to carry out a robbery.

Defence lawyers have 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 on the morning of the robbery.

Tension threatened to boil over at times as 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 dairy.

Defence lawyer David Niven said the reason the witness was not willing to talk about that conversation was because he was scared he would get into trouble.

"They hadn't even had a proper plan out ... there was hardly a plan at all," the boy replied.

He also reiterated the knife used to stab Mr Kumar was taken as a scare tactic, and that "no one was meant to get hurt."

The schoolboys on trial, who were aged 12 and 13 at the time of Kumar's death, have pleaded not guilty to the charges. Their lawyers say they lacked the "knowledge and intention" to commit the crimes.

The court proceedings have appeared to tire them at times, with the older of the two lying his head on the desk and the younger yawning through the evidence.

Meanwhile, Mr Kumar's family is expected to privately mark tomorrow's one year anniversary of his death. They have been in court throughout the trial, which is expected to last for a month.