KEY POINTS:
A man stabbed to death in an Auckland suburb was followed for almost half an hour by two men who were determined to escalate an initial verbal stoush, police said today.
Daryl Graydon, 24, of Panmure, was attacked while walking in the Ridge Road area of Howick, early on Saturday morning.
Police say Mr Graydon was one of a number of people who had been involved in an earlier altercation.
He and a friend Campbell Sussex were then followed and attacked near the corner of Ridge Street and Nelson Street.
Mr Sussex managed to escape but Mr Graydon was stabbed multiple times in the upper body.
Mr Graydon managed to stagger to the side of the road before collapsing in the driveway of a nearby house.
Detective Senior Sergeant Peter Jones told reporters at the scene of the stabbing today that it was not known who started the altercation between the two groups.
"It seems there were words exchanged and it has gone from there."
The altercation had started off with some verbal abuse, which neighbours may have heard but was not really comprehensible, he said.
There was a female voice involved in the initial altercation but the group was not fighting over a girl, he said.
Mr Jones said a witness had described it as a "bit of a boy thing" and a "young male thing".
"I think she (the witness) is talking about a bit of testosterone and a bit of alcohol, mixed together."
Police did not know if alcohol had been consumed by both groups but there was a small amount consumed by the group of friends Mr Graydon was with.
The initial altercation was believed to have happened about 1am, with the fatal attack happening about 20 to 30 minutes later.
During this time Mr Graydon and Mr Sussex had continued walking about 1.3km along the road towards Ridge Road, before they noticed two people behind them.
It is thought Mr Graydon was in the middle of the street when stabbed before stumbling off to the side of the road.
"It appears our offenders have been quite determined to follow up and escalate the situation and of course we're not exactly sure why that is at this stage."
Mr Jones said police were keeping an open mind about any potential connection to the South African community.
"We're not limiting ourselves to the fact that it was a South African thing. There was talk of accents and other languages."
Police could not say if the offenders were carrying the weapons used in the stabbing when they had the initial altercation.
Mr Jones also released an identikit picture of a man believed to be one of the two offenders, to whom police would like to talk.
The men were last seen heading down Nelson Street.
One of the men was described as European with blond hair and freckles. He was wearing a brown and grey hooded top. The other was part-Maori or olive-skinned, with dark spiky hair and wearing an electric blue shirt.
Both were wearing white shoes and were believed to be aged between 18 and 25.
About 40 police are working on the investigation.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Operation Ridge team on 0800 4 RIDGE.
- NZPA
