Murder trial witness to be cross examined

A murder trial witness who said he saw teenager Jack McAllister get fatally stabbed will be cross examined by defence lawyers in the High Court at Invercargill today.

Crown witness Braydon McKay gave evidence on Friday in the trial of five defendants who each face a charge of murder after McAllister was fatally stabbed near Stadium Southland in early June, 2017.

Though none of the five wielded the knife, the Crown says they all played a part in the 19-year-old’s death, including by luring him to the stadium and lulling him into a false sense of security, providing a vehicle to get to the scene or encouraging others with words and actions.

The Crown says another man, Brayden Whiting-Roff, who has previously pleaded guilty to a charge of murdering McAllister, stabbed him.

McKay, when giving evidence on Friday, said girls were abusing McAllister and males were punching McAllister in the stomach and head prior to the stabbing.

While McKay was trying to get free, McAllister was taken towards the grass area between the Surrey Park grandstand and the running track.

McKay said he heard one of the girls say McAllister ‘‘didn’t deserve to be in this lifetime’’.

McKay made it to the entranceway and could see that ‘‘obviously a knife is involved – he’s getting stabbed quite a few times . . . it was really aggressive . . . just by one fella.’’

‘‘They were all abusing him,’’ he said.

Defence lawyers for the five defendants are expected to begin cross examining McKay when the trial resumes at 10am today.

Those charged with McAllister’s murder are Natasha Ruffell, Christopher Brown, Laura Scheepers, David Wilson and a 24-year-old woman who has name suppression.

The trial, before Justice Rachel Dunningham and a 12-person jury, began on August 2 and is expected to take five weeks.