Murder accused planned to 'jump a taxi', court told

Two youths accused of murder allegedly told friends that they had planned to "jump a taxi" - run off without paying the fare - but the driver had wanted to fight them.

Seventeen-year-old Joshua Caleb Araipu gave his evidence on the second day of the Youth Court depositions hearing at which the two youths face joint charges of murdering taxi driver Abdulrahman Ikhtiari last December.

Before the court is a 16-year-old who cannot be named because of his age and Randall Legion Wiremu Brown, who turned 20 today.

The hearing before Judge John Strettell is expected to take about three days.

Mr Araipu said he was speaking to the pair the day after Mr Ikhtiari, an immigrant from Afghanistan, was found dead beside his taxi in Worcester Street.

Brown said something about a stabbing in town, he said.

The two accused then said they had "jumped" a taxi into town but the taxi driver had wanted to fight.

"Randall struck him in the face and grabbed him, and (the youth) said he had 'shanked' him," the witness said.

He acknowledged that at one point the youth had said he could not remember if he had stabbed the driver. The youth said they had got no money from the taxi.

He said Brown had been anxious and nervous at the time of the conversation, but the youth had been "energetic" and seemed "amped up".

Izaya James Sam Tawera, 18, told of a conversation with a group the next day, when the youth said he "may have stuck someone".

"He told us to shut up, and said he could go to jail for a very long time. We laughed at him and said he was talking shit," the witness said.

They were having the youth on and told him he would have to get a teardrop tattoo, which was a tattoo that people got near the eye, when they were jailed for life.

"I gave him a clip around the ear and said he was all shit," said Mr Tawera.

The depositions hearing is continuing.

- NZPA