Teen's appeal to murder conviction reserved by court

William Lewis was killed in a street fight in 2010. File photo / NZ Herald

The decision on an appeal by an Oamaru teenager, convicted of murdering another youth in the town in 2010, has been reserved by the Court of Appeal, sitting in Wellington.

In the High Court at Timaru on May 6 last year, Daniel Ethan Smith was convicted of the murder of 16 year-old William Lewis in a street fight.

Smith was sentenced to life with a minimal non-parole period of 10 years, and has appealed the conviction.

The then 17-year-old killed Lewis with a knife after being accosted several times by Lewis, who had challenged him to fight. The defendant said he had declined and just wanted to go home.

Smith, who had been drinking and smoking cannabis said he had not expected to meet Lewis that evening, and had been walking home when he heard Lewis calling his name.

Lewis had accused him of sleeping with his girlfriend and, although he had denied the accusation, Lewis had insisted on starting a fight.

Smith said Lewis had tried to take his hoodie from him and rob him of anything he had in his pockets in lieu of a fight. He said he had walked away from the confrontation a number of times but Lewis and another youth prevented him from walking home.

Smith said Lewis pushed him and abused him before trying to forcibly take his hoodie off him. Finally Smith said he pulled the knife out of his pocket and swung it around and into Lewis' back three times. Injuries included both lungs being penetrated and the aorta being partially severed.

Lewis had run a few metres from the scene but collapsed and died from blood loss a few minutes later.

Smith said it was several hours before he discovered the stabbing had been fatal. He said he had then run away from the scene and had thrown away the knife.