Man killed over bourbon and cola row, court told

Ben Bosch Herkt, 39, is on trial before the High Court at Auckland charged with the murder of 32-year-old Matthew Greenslade. Photo / File

A man was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack after a dispute over cans of bourbon and cola, a court has heard.

Ben Bosch Herkt, 39, is on trial before the High Court at Auckland charged with the murder of 32-year-old Matthew Greenslade.

The alleged incident took place in Papakura in November last year as the victim celebrated a successful inspection on his Porchester Rd unit.

He invited Herkt, his girlfriend Aileen Tito, and others over for drinks and the group persuaded a local liquor store owner to give them a box of Cody's RTDs on credit.

"Up until that point, everything had been going pretty well but that was about to change quite drastically," Crown prosecutor Gareth Kayes said.

It is alleged that while Mr Greenslade was out of the room Herkt put some of the cans in his bag.

An argument progressed to a fist fight between the two men. Ms Tito and Herkt were locked out of the flat and the victim shouted at them to leave.

Herkt allegedly persuaded a neighbour to give him a cricket bat and a kitchen knife before returning to Mr Greenslade's residence and forcing entry.

The victim sustained stab wounds to the back of the head, base of the neck and a seven-centimetre cut along the scalp. The fatal blow went through the upper left abdomen, cutting the liver and piercing the heart.

The trial, before Justice Simon Moore and a jury of seven women and five men, is scheduled to last three weeks.