Murder accused 'armed himself after trouble at party'

Haiden Mark Davis is accused of murdering teenager Augustine Borrell in 2007. Photo / Brett Phibbs

The man accused of stabbing an Auckland Grammar student to death was carrying a knife because of an earlier incident with gatecrashers at a party, a High Court jury heard yesterday.

Augustine Borrell, 17, was fatally stabbed in the chest on September 8, 2007, after a chance encounter outside an inner-city service station with Haiden Mark Davis, a man he had never met before.

Davis, 20, has pleaded not guilty to murder and is on trial in the High Court at Auckland.

The court heard Davis armed himself with a knife after a vanload of Polynesians turned up uninvited to a party he was attending in London St, Herne Bay.

He went to confront them and they left without any trouble, but instead of putting the knife back in the kitchen Davis put it in his pocket.

In her opening address to the jury, Crown prosecutor Sue Gray said that decision had devastating consequences. A 17-year-old lost his life needlessly because of a senseless piece of violence.

Before he crossed paths with Davis at the service station, Augustine had been drinking and dancing at a party in nearby Hamilton Rd but left there when the party was shut down after some cellphones and alcohol went missing.

He left in a taxi for Pt Chevalier but got out at the BP station in Jervois Rd when he saw some people he knew.

Davis was already outside the service station with friends. Other groups of young people were also there and several of them began fighting.

At the same time, Augustine and a friend approached the service station and Davis and some others turned their attentions to them and a fight broke out.

Ms Gray said not many punches had been thrown by Davis or Augustine when the fatal wound was inflicted and "the accused walked away with no more than a bloody nose".

The knife penetrated 10cm into Augustine's chest, penetrating his heart and collapsing a lung. He was left lying on the side of the road, gasping for air and trying to talk. Emergency services were called but he showed no signs of life and was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.

Ms Gray said Davis went back to a Pt Chevalier house where news of Augustine's death quickly spread. Text messages would be read to the jury in which he "clearly admitted responsibility for the stabbing".

He saw a lawyer the next day and later gave a statement to the police in which he said the stabbing had been accidental.

Ms Gray said even if he was genuinely regretful he still took a risk when he brought out the knife.

"The accused had many options open to him - but he chose to arm himself with the knife."

Davis' lawyer, Simon Lance, asked jurors to concentrate on what was on Davis' mind when the stabbing occurred and his role in the fight. Davis accepted his involvement and had spoken voluntarily to police.

"He certainly did not mean to kill him ... murder is certainly not the most appropriate verdict, there are other alternatives."