'Cunning' boy a murderer, jury told

A 14-year-old who threw a concrete block off a motorway overbridge knew his actions could kill someone but did it anyway, a court heard yesterday.

The boy, whose name is suppressed, is charged with murdering Christopher Currie, 20, of Taupo last August.

Mr Currie was killed instantly when his car was struck by the 8kg slab, which was dropped from the Princes St overbridge as he drove his girlfriend and two friends on Auckland's Southern Motorway.

A jury will decide today if the teenager murdered Mr Currie.

In the High Court at Auckland yesterday, Crown Prosecutor Aaron Perkins closed the case against the boy, who is now 15.

Mr Perkins told the jury of 10 men and two women that the schoolboy knew when he threw the concrete off the overbridge that he could kill someone, but he did it anyway.

"He was prepared to gamble with Mr Currie's life for his own ends ... probably to impress his own friends."

Mr Perkins said the boy had consciously taken the risk of killing.

He intended to injure and he knew death could result, but he was reckless and threw the concrete anyway. The boy admitted manslaughter but the jury had to decide if he had murdered.

Mr Perkins said it was "fanciful" to suggest the accused did not have time to think about the consequences of his actions.

He had shown "cunning" by standing on the northern side of the overbridge so that motorists approaching from the south could not see him.

It was not part of the Crown case that the accused intended to kill Mr Currie, Mr Perkins said, but the boy had gambled with Mr Currie's life by dropping the slab off the bridge on to a car travelling at about 100km/h.

He asked the jury to look at the size of the piece of concrete, its weight and its texture, saying the accused had chosen it.

"He's not a toddler, he was 14 at the time. Can it seriously be suggested that he didn't appreciate what something of that size, nature and weight would do to a car travelling along the motorway, to the driver?"

The boy had bragged to his friends at school the following Monday, Mr Perkins said. He referred to a witness who said the boy told him: "I'm ruthless."

The boy's lawyer, Lester Cordwell, asked the jury to put aside prejudice and appealed for them to think about being young.

"He wouldn't be the first boy to do something without putting his brain into gear, without thinking of the likely consequences of his actions," Mr Cordwell said.

"Where is the young man who, some time in his youth, hasn't been guilty of some sort of delinquency?"

It had taken about 10 seconds to collect the rock and the whole incident took about one minute. Mr Cordwell also pointed to evidence from witnesses who said that at school on the Monday, the boy did not seem himself and was shocked and sad.

Mr Cordwell said the evidence supported manslaughter not murder.

Justice Helen Winkelmann will sum up the case to the jury this morning.