Accused was not afraid, court told

Rarua Edwardson did not behave like she was acting in self defence when she fatally stabbed Turangi teenager Melissa Puhi, a jury has been told.

"It wasn't any actions of self defence," Rotorua Crown Solicitor Fletcher Pilditch told a jury in the High Court in Rotorua yesterday.

"The accused was not afraid.

"She didn't perceive a threat. It was a situation where she was not backing down.

"She knew the consequences,"

Edwardson, 17, from Turangi, is on trial for the murder of 16-year-old Miss Puhi in Turangi on May 13 last year.

The Crown says Edwardson took a wine knife with a retractable blade and "plunged" it into Miss Puhi's neck after an argument and a physical fight between the pair.

Miss Puhi died in an ambulance on the way to Taupo Hospital.

Edwardson, through her lawyer John Rowan, QC, said she was acting in self defence and had no intention to kill Miss Puhi.

In his closing address to the jury of eight women and four men as well as a public gallery full of more than 30 family members of the two girls Mr Pilditch said Edwardson's actions were deliberate.

"It [the knife] was up and then [brought] down on an angle and it was brought it into the neck.

"It was deliberate and it [the knife] was aimed.'

If Edwardson had been acting in self defence she would have held the knife out in front of her.

Mr Pilditch told the jury they could be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt Edwardson intended to kill Miss Puhi or at least cause bodily injury she knew was likely to cause death.

"It is naive in the extreme that she didn't know what she was doing or the consequences of what she was doing."

Mr Rowan warned the jury not to let their judgment be overwhelmed by the tragic events of that night.

He said Miss Puhi was volatile and had violence on her mind.

She was significantly affected by alcohol.

Edwardson pulled out the knife after receiving a "hard punch" to her face - a hard punch which could have been fatal, Mr Rowan said.

"She reaches in and gets the knife out and uses it.

"She has done this reactively, it's done instinctively, done without thinking to get this person away.

"That is classic self defence and without murderous intent."

Edwardson had folded the knife back up, put it back in her pocket, making no attempt to throw it away or hide it.

She showed the knife to the police officer when interviewed within a short time after the incident - not the actions of someone who had a murderous intent, Mr Rowan said.

In her statement to police Edwardson said "I never meant it to come to this.

"I never meant to cause any of this and I am just sorry."

Justice Lyn Stevens will sum up the case this morning before the jury retires to consider its verdict.