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An 18-year-old youth was charged last night with the murder of Auckland Grammar School student Augustine Borrell after comments were posted on the popular Bebo website saying "i am real sory 4 tha incident" and "iv handed maself in".
The Otahuhu teenager, who is to appear in court
this morning, also faces a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm after an incident in which a man was allegedly stabbed in the head hours before the murder of 17-year-old Augustine.
That stabbing happened about 10pm at a party in London St, St Marys Bay.
The injured man had a cut in his head but did not need hospital treatment. His injuries came to light only after police started investigating the knifing of Augustine late on Saturday night after a party in adjacent Herne Bay. He died just after midnight.
Police said the arrested teenager was interviewed yesterday after walking into the Auckland Central police station just after 9am with his lawyer, Ron Mansfield.
He was charged just after 6pm - about 24 hours after messages relating to the killing appeared on Bebo.
Last night, the Borrell family said they were relieved that someone had been charged with the murder.
But spokesman Tai Walter-Benedito said they were still coming to grips with their loss.
Augustine's body, dressed in his Auckland Grammar "number ones" uniform, was taken to the family's Papatoetoe home yesterday morning.
Relatives and friends - many wearing school uniform - streamed into the home to pay their respects and leave gifts.
Some gave rugby jerseys - there was one for each of the four clubs for which he played. One schoolboy left a greenstone pendant.
Others came just to talk about the much-loved sportsman, friend, son and brother.
Mr Walter-Benedito said many of Augustine's friends would be sleeping at the house last night.
Cars filled the street and a marquee was set up on the family lawn to accommodate the huge number of people wanting to pay tribute before Augustine's funeral.
A family farewell will be held on Friday and another service will be held on Saturday for others who want to pay their respects.
The owners of the Hamilton Rd home at which Augustine attended a party before he was killed are returning from the rugby World Cup in France to be present at his funeral.
A family spokesman said Jeffrey and Noeline Morrison would arrive in New Zealand tomorrow.
"Jeff has been in touch with the Borrell family, he's spoken to them and passed on their condolences," said spokesman Michael Heron.
"They're all planning to be at the service on Friday."
The Borrell family had reacted "extremely positively" to the gesture.
"They very much welcomed their involvement at the service, and thanked Jeff for calling.
"As you can imagine the Morrisons are just gutted by this.
"Obviously, they're providing all the details they can to the police ... "
He said the couple and their children were "just shell-shocked ... and devastated by this. They want to do what they can."
Detective Senior Sergeant Steve Breach said yesterday the arrested youth had a Bebo account and items "relating to August's death" were on the site.
No one from Bebo's press office was available to comment last night, but allegations about the murder and threats towards those responsible remained on the website, even after the arrest.
One posting, written in response to allegations about who was responsible for the murder, said:
"hey there ... i am real sory 4 tha incident ov augustine, an want u 2 know i had no intensions wat so ever 2 do so, an im not that kind of person an kuld neva du that 2 sum1 especialy 2 sumwun i dont knw an if u havnt heard iv handed maself in.and i am real real sorry, i didnt know wat hapend that nite. R.I.P augustine"
Earlier yesterday several messages asked if rumours about an 18-year-old youth committing the murder were true.
As the day progressed the comments became more direct.
Messages said "ull be paying for wat uv dun ... ur guna get locked up for a looooong time ... " and "you should be ashamed of yourself".
By the end of the day some of the messages had turned nasty, despite the victim's family saying this week that they did not want any retaliation for the murder.
Augustine died after receiving a single stab wound to his chest after being confronted outside the Herne Bay party.
The end-of-exams celebration was attended by about 100 young people at the $2.6 million home of Mr Morrison, a partner in the Russell McVeagh law firm.
Police now do not believe that the youth charged with Augustine's killing is part of a "some junior wanna-be gang" as they earlier suspected.
Detectives still want to talk to a second person in relation to the murder.
They say that person will know who he is, although he is not necessarily considered a prime suspect.
