KEY POINTS:
A 50-year-old man told police that he only intended to wound a tagger he chased with a knife, a jury was told on the second day of a trial in Auckland today.
Bruce Emery is accused of murdering 15-year-old Pihema Clifford Cameron, after he found him and a 16-year-old relative tagging in Manurewa, south Auckland, on January 26.
A DVD police interview between Detective Ian Thomas and Emery was shown to the High Court jury in Auckland today.
In it Emery told how he grabbed a knife off the bench of his house and took off after the taggers.
"I yelled out `stop you bloody cowards'. One of them came at me and lunged at me. I thought they were attacking me so I put the knife up against his shoulder as he came towards me. He more or less stepped into it.
"He sat down on the ground. I thought he was getting up. I just stepped back and went home," Emery said.
Mr Thomas asked Emery why he had a knife and he replied it was because he was 50 and he needed it for protection as he had a wife and three kids.
He said he chased the boys because he wanted to catch them. And he had the knife because he wanted to scare them.
"I was fairly angry when I saw the two taggers. Over the past 20 years I've seen people tagging my property about three or four times," Emery said.
He said the boys were getting aggressive, and the boy who approached him had his fists up.
Emery said he was exhausted and he'd had a very hard day.
"I just waved the knife to try and stop them. The intent was to wound him in the shoulder.
"That's when he kept coming. I didn't think I'd done much damage at all. I didn't think it was very far in. He didn't say much. His mate came over with a spray can. He threw it at me and that's when I left."
"How would you describe your mood?" asked Mr Thomas.
"I suddenly realised I was by myself and was running out of energy. I was feeling a bit shaky actually," Emery said.
When he got home, Emery said he put the knife in the sink and went and got some petrol to clean the tag off the front door. He rinsed the knife off.
He said he was wearing a red shirt and some shorts, which he brought to the police station.
"I just washed the knife to keep it clean. It had a bit of blood on it so I just cleaned it off," Emery said.
He said he didn't tell anyone about what happened. His wife asked if he'd caught the taggers, and Emery replied, "Not really".
After he returned home, Emery said he saw police in the road and he thought someone else had reported the tagging and police were looking for them.
Emery said he "couldn't believe it" when he heard the boy had died as he "was so young".
Bruce Emery's wife, So Tju Emery, said in a statement read out in court they had three daughters, aged nine to 14.
"Bruce said there was taggers tagging the door.
"He went outside and said he'd wiped the tagging off. He never said anything more about it.
"I could see flashing lights from the living room, and they were still there when I went to bed. Bruce never told me anything, and I never knew him to be violent," Mrs Emery said.
Dion James Sheppard, senior forensic pathologist, told the court it would be possible to wash blood off a knife so it could no longer be detected.
The trial continues tomorrow.
- NZPA
