Trial for teens accused of murder delayed

Their trial was scheduled to go ahead next month but has now been pushed back. Photo / File

The trial for two teenagers accused of the murder of a man in an Auckland motel looks set to be pushed back to next year.

Beauen Wallace-Loretz, 17 and Leonard Nattrass-Berquist, 17, allegedly murdered 54-year-old Ihaia Gillman-Harris on December 27 last year at Auckland's Ascot Epsom Motel.

Their trial was scheduled to go ahead next month but after a hearing before the High Court at Auckland this morning, Justice Graham Lang ruled it could not proceed.

The reasons for his ruling were suppressed.

A new date for the trial would be confirmed later today, the judge said.

Wallace-Loretz sparked a man hunt in March after he fled the Avondale address to which he was bailed.

He has since been remanded in custody, while his co-accused has spent the last 10 months on bail.

The defendants are also accused of robbing Mr Gillman-Harris of cash, a cell phone and bank card as well as unlawfully taking his $15,000 Range Rover.