KEY POINTS:
The grieving family of a man allegedly murdered by a 14-year-old boy in Tokoroa has taken his body home to Hastings.
Shayne Pita Walker, 22, died of a single stab wound to the torso early on Saturday.
The teen charged with his murder is due to appear in
the Rotorua Youth Court today.
Mr Walker's body was taken from a Tokoroa funeral home yesterday by family members and is to be buried at a marae in Hastings later this week.
A group of about 20 relatives and friends gathered at the South Waikato Funeral Services parlour to prepare his body for the journey home.
Mr Walker's uncle, Wayne Hesketh, said his body would be taken to the family home for two days before being moved to a marae.
Mr Walker was the eldest of four siblings, and his father was said to be taking his son's death very hard.
"He's shattered," Mr Hesketh said.
The family knew little about the events of Saturday morning, when Mr Walker was found critically wounded on a roadside by a woman walking home. He died in Tokoroa Hospital shortly afterwards.
Asked what kind of person the 22-year-old was, Mr Hesketh said: "He had his ups and downs like anyone else."
Mr Walker had lived in Tokoroa less than a year and had come to the town for a "lifestyle change", a female relative said.
He had been doing a forestry course and had spent part of the time living with his grandmother, who was now gravely ill in Tokoroa Hospital.
She had not yet been told of Mr Walker's death because of the toll the family feared it might take on her health.
Members of the immediate family did not want to comment.
"It hasn't even had time to sink in yet," said one of two Victim Support workers who were assisting them.
Mr Walker was allegedly attacked on the corner of St Andrews Drive and Fife Place, just a few streets from where Strathmore School teacher Lois Dear was murdered in July 2006.
The 14-year-old suspect in Mr Walker's murder was arrested shortly afterwards but police would not say whether he was known to the victim.
They said the weapon used to stab Mr Walker was a knife and they had recovered "items of interest" from the scene.
Inquiry head Detective Sergeant Kevan Verry urged anyone who heard or saw anything on Saturday to contact Tokoroa police.
