Teens, 16, plead guilty to fatal bashing of NZ man in Sydney

SYDNEY - Two teenagers have pleaded guilty to bashing to death a New Zealand man at a Sydney sporting oval.

The offenders, who were 16 at the time of the man's death in 2007, were originally charged with murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in the NSW Supreme Court.

A court had previously been told Christopher Leichester, 20, was on his way to a party in Woolooware in Sydney's south on November 24, 2007.

As the New Zealander crossed an oval he was set upon by a group of teenage boys who punched him to the ground and kicked him several times in the head.

According to a police statement of facts, Mr Leichester suffered a severed artery between his brain and central nervous system.

He died in hospital a day after the attack.

Court documents revealed the attack appeared to have occurred because the teenagers mistakenly believed Mr Leichester had abused them a short time earlier.

But a witness told police it was two other men who chased and hurled abuse at the teenagers' car.

Both youths remain in custody.

- NZPA