The teen is seeking to challenge the conviction and the sentence duration.
No hearing date has yet been set.
The stabbing was on May 23, 2024, during a brief altercation at the Dunedin bus hub.
The defendant, then aged 13, and 16-year-old McLaren-Taana did not know each other.
Witnesses said the confrontation began after McLaren-Taana told the younger boy to pull his socks up, and called him a “b**** boy” and a “sackless c***”.
A vocal exchange led to the defendant producing a knife, used to stab McLaren-Taana in the chest during a scuffle.
The encounter was captured on CCTV and cellphone footage.
The killing rocked the Dunedin community and sparked renewed concern over youth violence and safety at the central transport hub.
At sentencing, Justice Robert Osborne set a starting point of seven years’ imprisonment but applied discounts for the defendant’s age, time spent on bail, remorse, and potential for rehabilitation.
He declined an application for a discharge without conviction on the grounds that it would likely lead to deportation.
“I have no doubt, as the jury have found, that you did not go out that day with the intention of killing anyone,” Osborne told the boy.
McLaren-Taana’s family expressed disappointment at the boy’s sentencing.
His father, John McLaren, believed the term was “nowhere near enough”.
“Three years – that’s what my son’s life is valued at?”
Throughout the trial, the court heard the defendant had previously been assaulted and robbed, and had started carrying a knife out of fear.
His lawyer, Anne Stevens KC, argued the stabbing was an act of self-defence.
The Crown maintained it was a deliberate act, pointing to evidence that the teen had chased McLaren-Taana before stabbing him.
The boy remains in custody while his appeal is pending.
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.
