KEY POINTS:
The mother of an Auckland man stabbed to death on a suburban street gave an emotional tribute at his funeral and branded her son's killer a coward.
Daryl Graydon was farewelled by up to 400 people at an outdoor service at the Stone Cottage in the heart of
Panmure, his home suburb which friends and family said he loved.
"I'm proud of my son, he was a man," said his mother Louanna.
"He used his fists, he didn't need a knife.
"What a coward."
Mr Graydon, 24, was stabbed while walking with his friend Campbell Sussex along the Ridge Rd area of Howick about 1.30am on Saturday. He died in an ambulance shortly afterwards.
About 40 police are investigating Mr Graydon's death, which followed a verbal altercation he and Mr Sussex got into with a group they did not know about 1am.
Mr Graydon's mother and sister Alana, with about 10 friends and family members, chose to stand throughout the ceremony, next to the white casket, whose lid had was covered with hundreds of messages.
"Daryl was not just a son to me, he was like my best mate," his mother said, adding her son had "died in a tragic way ... he didn't deserve to go like that".
A few weeks before he died he had said he would die young, she added.
"I told him 'No you're not, only the good die young'."
The black hearse carrying the coffin of Mr Graydon, accompanied by motorcycles and cars sounding their horns, stopped Christmas shoppers as it did a lap of the main street.
Friends and family told the crowd that the 24-year-old loved cars, music and his family.
His mother thanked the mourners for attending.
"This is something he would have loved. He loved Panmure and by the looks of this, Panmure loved him," Ms Graydon said.
Friends of Daryl wore black t-shirts, with the message RIP Daz printed on the back.
A fierce rendition of the Kamate, Kamate haka was performed by friends. The Graydon family received the haka before more speakers took the small podium.
Another man who spoke made mention of the diverse community who attended the ceremony.
"The community has been cast aside by some people.
"They said we were a lost cause. We're not a lost cause.
"Take a look around you, look at the ethnicities. This community is a family."
Friends and family were still reeling from the shock of receiving the news of Mr Graydon's death.
Mr Sussex, who was with Mr Graydon on the night he was stabbed, described him as his best mate.
He and Mr Graydon were followed and attacked near the corner of Ridge Rd and Nelson St.
Police say Mr Graydon and some friends were involved in an altercation at a party before he was stabbed multiple times in the upper body.
He staggered to the side of the road before collapsing in the driveway of a nearby house.
Earlier in the week Detective Senior Sergeant Peter Jones told reporters at the scene that the offenders were determined to follow up and escalate the situation.
He said police were keeping an open mind about any potential connection to the South African community.
"We're not limiting ourselves to the fact that it was a South African thing. There was talk of accents and other languages."
One of the suspects was described as European with blond hair and freckles. He was wearing a brown and grey hooded top.
The other was part-Maori or olive-skinned, with dark spiky hair and wearing an electric blue shirt.
Both were wearing white shoes and were believed to be aged between 18 and 25.