Music and laughter ended in death

The fatal clash in Hamilton Rd, Herne Bay, ended the life of a promising Auckland Grammar rugby player. Photo / Kenny Rodger

The last night of Augustine Borrell's life started like many teenagers' Saturday night: with music, booze and laughter.

There were at least two parties in Herne Bay on the evening of September 8, 2007; one in Hamilton Rd, the other a few streets away, in London St.

Augustine, 17, a promising Auckland Grammar rugby player, was at the Hamilton Rd get-together hosted by a friend of a friend whose parents were in Europe for the Rugby World Cup.

The man who would later become his killer, Haiden Mark Davis, then 18, was at the 16th birthday party in London St. He was apparently in good spirits, drunk, but "happy and calm" in the words of one partygoer.

But he didn't stay calm for long.

Davis bashed one latecomer to the party, David Moynihan, as he went to walk outside. The punch - to the back of Mr Moynihan's head - was hard enough to leave a scar.

Soon after, a vanload of young men pulled up outside. While others went to speak with them, Davis went into the kitchen and slipped a knife with a 10cm blade into his pocket. But by the time he got outside the van had left.

Davis, the knife still in his pocket, later left London St in a taxi.

By 10.30pm at Hamilton Rd, gatecrashers were arriving, cellphones and alcohol were missing and the party was being closed down.

Partygoers spilled on to the street. Augustine - who had been dancing, drinking, and chatting to his friend Laura Douglas - was one of them.

As he walked up Hamilton Rd towards Jervois Rd, Davis was being dropped off there. Three young men in a Mercedes Benz were also in the vicinity, searching for someone they believed had been lurking near one of their parents' motels in Hamilton Rd.

A group of Polynesian boys looked out of place and the carload stopped and confronted them. A fight broke out and bottles were thrown at the car, which quickly left for the central city.

But the fighting did not end there.

People came running to join in. Some may have been trying to protect friends, while others, fuelled by alcohol, perhaps just wanted to fight.

Somehow, both Davis and Augustine became involved in the brawl.

Davis says he was coming to the aid of a friend - Sigmund "Ziggy" Croft - who he says was being threatened. As he neared the fight, Davis put his hood over his head and slipped out the knife.

Augustine appeared also, coming up Hamilton Rd, although it is not clear how or why he joined the fight.

What is known is that he, Davis, Croft and another man were soon throwing punches. Judging by the lack of injuries to Augustine's face and hands - as revealed during an autopsy - they were either not heavy blows or there were few of them. By the time of the stabbing only two people were still fighting - Haiden Davis and Augustine Borrell.

In the end there was only Augustine, lying bleeding through a hole in his chest 10cm deep, dying.

During Davis' murder trial, "Ziggy" Croft perhaps summed up the evening's events most accurately when he told the High Court at Auckland: "It all seemed too bad to be true."