Dairy stabbing: Boy, 12, appears in court

Arun Kumar was killed in his Railside Ave Dairy in Henderson. Photo / Facebook

A 12-year-old boy accused of involvement in an attempted armed robbery that left a west Auckland dairy owner dead will remain in custody.

The boy, who cannot be named because of his age, appeared in the Waitakere Youth Court this afternoon and entered no plea to a charge of assaulting father-of-two Arun Kumar with intent to rob him.

A 13-year-old boy who faces the same charge and one of murdering Mr Kumar will appear in the High Court at Auckland next week.

The 12-year-old will stay in custody until next week when it is expected a bail application will be made at his next court appearance.

Mr Kumar was farewelled by hundreds of mourners , including family friends, Labour MPs Rajen Prasad and Phil Twyford and Auckland mayor Len Brown, at his funeral over the weekend.

Mr Kumar, 57, was stabbed in the neck in front of his wife during what is believed to have been an attempted robbery of the Railside Dairy in Henderson about 7.30am on Tuesday last week.