Joshua Horton, the man charged with the death of Hastings teen Maaka Hakiwai in Melbourne in 2019 has been found not guilty of murder, but guilty of an alternative charge of manslaughter.
Maaka Hakiwai, originally from Hastings in the Hawke's Bay, was 17 years old when he was stabbed to death in Kings Park, Melbourne, in September 2019.
His older brother Nathaniel was stabbed too. The pair were just metres from home, waiting for a bus, when a car pulled up and two passengers came out to take Nathaniel's Philadelphia 76ers cap from him.
The boy ended up dying in a confrontation over the hat, which was reportedly worth $50.
Horton, 20, was charged with murder and accused of stabbing Maaka in the heart and Nathaniel in the leg twice.
