Dunedin student Enere Taana-McLaren was 16 when he died, after the fight on 23 May, 2024. Photo: Facebook screenshot
A Dunedin bus driver has told the High Court that it looked like an older student taunted and wanted to fight the 14-year-old who is now accused of the older student's murder.
The 14-year-old, who has name suppression, has pleaded not guilty and is currently on trial in Dunedin.
Sixteen-year-old Enere Taana-McLaren was rushed to hospital after he was stabbed at the city's bus hub on 23 May, last year. He died later that day.
Go Bus driver Christopher Kitto, who witnessed the fight, said the younger boy initially appeared to want nothing to do with the older boy, who verbally accosted and approached him, "spoiling for a fight".
He was questioned by counsel for the Crown, Robin Bates, about what he saw after pulling up at the bus hub.
He described the hub as busy but seeming "relatively normal", and noticed a boy leaning against the shelter who he recognised.
The taller boy started "puffing himself", and Kitto said he watched a younger boy get off the bus, intent on walking past the other boy and ignoring him.
The taller boy - whom he later identified as the one who got stabbed - was talking or shouting at the younger boy, following him up the footpath and gesturing like he wanted to get physical.
The defendant started walking backwards before he stopped.
"It sort of escalated from that point."
He heard the taller boy taunting the younger one to fight and then get something out of his bag, "get it out, c'mon, get it out", but he couldn't hear the defendant, he said.
The knife was pulled, and then the younger boy chased the taller one onto the road, and fists started swinging, with the taller boy doing an "impressive" massive kick that glanced off the younger boy's shoulder, he said.
The fight ensued on the road.
He saw the knife drawn back, and bus hub security and others moving to separate them before seeing the knife go flying through the air out of the melee and hit the road with a "tinkle".
When they were pulled apart, he recalled seeing the older boy standing up, looking down and seeing blood before collapsing and others helping him.
Kitto said he then drove off with his passengers so they were not traumatised further.
During cross examination, defence lawyer Anne Stevens KC said the bus driver had an uninterrupted view and a better view than a camera that footage was taken from.
Counsel for the Crown, Robin Bates, then questioned him about his recollections.
In his statement, Kitto said he saw the younger boy walk to near an electrical box near the entrance to the bus before turning around, but Bates said CCTV footage showed the younger boy walking to halfway along his bus.
Kitto confirmed he did not recall that happening.
Witness describes scene
A teenage witness described pulling the 14-year-old boy away from Enere Taana-McLaren before realising the student had been stabbed.
The witness, who was 17 at the time and has name suppression, was sitting with friends under trees near the bus hub when he saw the commotion.
He described running toward the fight on the road, seeing the knife come towards him and then drop on the ground.
He picked it up and threw it off the road.
When Crown prosecutor Richard Smith asked why he picked it up, the witness said it was to make sure no cars ran over it and no one else picked it up.
Once he got to the pair fighting, he restrained the defendant, pulling him back, but let go when he saw Taana-McLaren lift his shirt and saw a stab wound, he said.
He took off his hoodie and tied it around the wound to try and stop the bleeding.
He then showed a police officer where the knife was.
The witness then identified the knife when it was brought out as an exhibit.
Defence lawyer Anne Stevens KC asked what the defendant was wearing as the witness described him as having a white balaclava on that covered his nose and mouth and a black hoodie on.
She played him footage which showed he was not wearing a black hoodie and his mouth was visible, and asked him how he knows it was the defendant.
He "just knew it was him", the witness said.
He told Smith during examination that he knew of both of the boys and was a friend-acquaintance of Taana-McLaren.
Another witness described seeing the fatal fight unfold, saying she got scared and moved away when it became more intense.
When she turned around, the witness said she saw the older boy lying down and screaming in pain.
The witness, who has name suppression, said she first noticed the younger boy in a green hoodie and heard unpleasant comments being made about him by an older boy.
After a verbal altercation, she described the defendant running at full force and starting to punch the victim, with the older boy punching him back but not as frequently.
During cross-examination, the defence lawyer asked who kicked who, and she responded that the boy in the green hoodie.
Stevens pulled up her statement which stated that the boy in the Trinity blazer kicked the other boy.
She said she was not sure any more, she also acknowledged she could have been mistaken about seeing someone be pushed into a bus as they were fighting a long way away.
The trial is expected to run for three-and-a-half weeks.
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