Sister sees boy knifed to death

A police photographer works at the murder scene in Hamilton East. Picture / Amos Chapple

An 8-year-old girl watched as her 15-year-old brother was stabbed to death in Hamilton.

A youth, whose name has been suppressed, has been remanded in custody after appearing in the Hamilton Youth Court yesterday charged with murder.

He is accused of killing the teenage boy, who has yet to be publicly identified, under the tree-lined pathway beside a badminton hall in Dey St, Hamilton East.

A woman who did not want to be named said the killing on Wednesday night had stunned residents of the state house-lined street.

She said she went outside when ambulance staff and police arrived just after 6pm and saw a group of four children aged between 7 and 8 years old.

One of the girls was crying.

"They normally come around selling fruit, so I knew them. I asked her what was wrong. She said, 'My brother has been stabbed'."

Another of the children then pointed to her side and made a motion of stabbing, showing how the fatal blow had been administered.

She said, 'My mother has gone to hospital - I want to go to hospital'."

The woman said the experience had left her shaken and she was concerned it could lead to further tension in the street.

She said she consoled the little girl before police took her to hospital.

The girl and more than 50 family and friends gathered at the spot yesterday for karakia (prayers) and a cleansing led by police iwi liaison officer Wayne Panapa.

Mr Panapa said family had asked for the ceremony.

Family spokesman Paora Tewao said it was a very emotional time and the focus was on managing grief.

He said the youth's body would lie in state at the family home before being taken to the whanau's marae in Thames.

He declined to discuss motives or the state of the young people who witnessed the killing.

The alleged murder has sparked speculation among residents. One, who did not want to be named, blamed gang tensions.

She thought tension between eastside and northside gangs was to blame.

But another, Eileen Iripi-Vainikolo, who has lived in the street for four years, said she was not aware of gang problems.

"You get the odd tagger and domestic - that's normal for this time of year - but nothing like this. It's scary stuff."

A police cordon of the area included the Hamilton Wado-Kai karate club, next to the Badminton Club.

Karate instructor Jimileen Tamaki, who was tutoring a class just metres away, was stunned to learn of the death.

She said although the building had been burgled and targeted by graffiti vandals in the past there had been no problems in the year she had worked there.

"It worries me that this happened so close to home."

The first sign that there had been any problems was when parents arrived to collect their children and told her police tape was blocking the carpark entrance.

The killing has shocked the family of the accused.

A family member described the boy, who lived mainly with his grandmother and occasionally his father, as quiet and withdrawn.

She said what had happened was tragic and two lives had been ruined.

"My sympathy goes out to the poor boy's family."

The accused was to spend last night in a police cell after the court heard that no beds were available at Child, Youth and Family facilities.

He is due to reappear today.