Justices Thomas, Harland and Cull said that, along with provocation and the offender’s age, should have lowered the sentence but did not erase criminal responsibility.
The court stressed the conviction itself would stand.
“The appeal against conviction is dismissed,” the judgment said, while separately allowing the sentence appeal.
Enere McLaren-Taana’s whānau wore clothing bearing his face and name to the sentencing of his killer at the Dunedin High Court. Photo / Ben Tomsett
On the day, the younger boy got off a bus and was confronted by McLaren-Taana, who taunted him and challenged him to fight.
The court said the younger teen had been carrying a knife in a shoulder bag and, after a verbal exchange, pulled it out before chasing McLaren-Taana onto the road and stabbing him once in the abdomen.
McLaren-Taana died later that day in hospital.
At sentencing in the Dunedin High Court last year, the judge ruled the teen had not acted in self-defence and imposed a sentence of three years and three months’ jail.
But Justices Thomas, Harland and Cull took a different view, saying CCTV footage and psychiatric evidence showed the child’s actions were influenced by fear and trauma.
The court said he had previously been the victim of serious bullying and assault, had been diagnosed with ADHD and PTSD, and had begun carrying a knife because it gave him “a sense of protection”.
The judges described the stabbing as a “60-second incident involving a hypervigilant, impulsive child”, and said the 13-year-old had reacted to threats from an older, larger teenager who had challenged him to fight.
That meant the original starting point for sentencing was too high.
The Court of Appeal reduced it from six years and two months to five years before applying discounts for youth, rehabilitation, remorse and time spent on electronically monitored bail, arriving at a final sentence of 31 months.
The boy had also sought a discharge without conviction, arguing that a criminal record could lead to his deportation and derail his rehabilitation.
The court rejected that argument, finding the consequences of conviction were not “out of all proportion” to the seriousness of the offending.
In its ruling, the court said the fatal use of a knife against an unarmed person remained too serious to justify wiping the conviction, despite the boy’s age and difficult background.
Ben Tomsett is a multimedia journalist based in Dunedin. He joined the Herald in 2023.