Dairy owner trial: 'He told me he stabbed him'

Arun Kumar was allegedly stabbed to death in his Henderson dairy.

A boy who was with two teens before they allegedly killed a West Auckland dairy owner says trails of blood led police to the defendant's front door.

The 14-year-old witness was interviewed by police the day after the incident, which left Arun Kumar bleeding to death from a neck wound on the floor of the Railside Dairy.

The recording of that interview has been played for the jury in the High Court at Auckland this afternoon.

A 14-year-old boy is on trial charged with murdering Arun Kumar, while his 13-year-old co-accused faces a charge of manslaughter after the June 10 incident at the Henderson dairy almost a year ago.

The pair, who have name suppression, also face counts of assault with intent to rob.

Their friend, whose name is also suppressed, initially told police he was not there and saw the aftermath because he was going to the murder-accused's house that morning to pick up his school uniform. But he admitted this morning that was a "big lie".

The Crown said he followed the pair to the dairy on the morning of the incident, which he disclosed in a later interview.

"As soon as I got to his house he told me everything. He just left trails of blood everywhere and the cops knew straight away it was him," the boy said.

"He told me he stabbed him...he was just panicking. He was just so freaked out he couldn't even talk."

The witness said the 14-year-old defendant's upper body was covered in blood, as was a bag he was carrying.

"Just before he had that shower his mum walked in. That's when everything started to get a little bit nasty," he said.

The older defendant explained to him what had happened.

"The friend he was with actually forced him to go with him. He was the one that was forcing [him] to do it," the witness told police.

"[He] had nothing to do but self-defence, because the man grabbed him I think he just got scared and swung a bit too early."

Later today another interview with the witness is expected to be played for the jury in which the teen gave a fuller account of what took place.

Yesterday the court heard tearful testimony from Anita Kumar, the victim's widow, who spoke of how she desperately wrestled a metal pole from the younger defendant to try and help her husband.

But he died on the floor of the dairy after sustaining three stab wounds, the most serious of which severed his jugular vein and was so deep that it left an imprint on his vertebra.

Both defence lawyers told the jury that their clients did not go to the shop planning to kill anyone.

"He did not act with murderous intent. We know Mr Kumar died but that fact, that consequence was never anticipated, planned or contemplated by [the defendant] ...nor did he intend an assault on Mr Kumar," the 14-year-old's counsel Maria Pecotic said.

The Crown said the aggravated robbery was the idea of the younger defendant, as was the plan to take weapons, but his lawyer Philip Hamlin denied he had any intention to cause harm.

"The Crown can't prove he meant or intended for [the older defendant] to use a knife to assault, hurt or stab the shopkeeper."

The trial before Justice Graham Lang and a jury of six women and six men is scheduled to last about a month.