Luke Tipene: Second shocking death for family

A rising league star killed in a street brawl in an upmarket Auckland suburb early yesterday lost his dad in an earlier family tragedy.

Lock-forward Luke Tipene, 17, died just after midnight after a brawl erupted outside a Grey Lynn house.

Witnesses said the teen had been stabbed in the neck.

The death was a second blow to Tipene's keen rugby league family from Glen Eden, west Auckland.

In November 2002, the body of Luke's father, Christopher Tipene, 33, was found in bush behind a local school. He had gone missing more than five weeks earlier but police ruled out suspicious circumstances.

Richard Joseph, former vice-chairman of the teenager's home club Glenora Bears, said the family was devastated by a second tragedy. Luke, a twin, is survived by three sisters. His mother, Terry Wilson, is chairwoman of the league club.

"Luke was a very popular and talented boy and this has hit the family hard," Joseph said. "Everyone is shocked and saddened.

"Luke had been at the club since he was a kid and when he wasn't playing he would be at the clubhouse helping out at the tuck shop and encouraging the younger players."

Tipene was a member of the New Zealand Under-17s Merit team and had come through the Warriors development system.

Luke, a twin, is survived by three sisters.

There was a minute's silence at the Four Nations game between the Kiwis and Samoa yesterday.

Warriors co-owner Eric Watson led tributes to the teen on Instagram yesterday.

"Just heard about the very sad news of Luke Tipene," he wrote. "My thoughts are with his family and the rugby league community of New Zealand. Too young."

Warriors academy and pathways manager Duane Mann also passed on condolences to the family.

"This is awful for Luke's family as well as for all of us at the club," Mann said. "We are absolutely devastated and are trying to come to terms with what has happened. We held Luke in the highest regard."

As many as 40 people were present when the fatal fight broke out in Great North Rd.

"My sister was woken up by the noise and heard a man shouting someone had been stabbed," said one resident who declined to be named. "She saw a lad grabbing his own throat as he fell to the ground."

A group of students who had just left a party in an apartment directly across from where the incident happened tried to help the dying teen.

"A bunch of guys who no one knew appeared from further down the street and started fighting," one of the partygoers said.

"When I realised someone had been stabbed I called the police and took a towel down for people who were trying to stop the bleeding."

A 16-year-old male has been charged with murder and will appear in the Auckland Youth Court tomorrow.