Murder weapon hidden after 19-year-old stabbed

A Bear Grylls knife used to kill a 19-year-old man was dumped in a bush near the Invercargill museum after the attack.

Christopher Brown’s recorded police interview from June 8 continued to play to the High Court in Invercargill yesterday.

Brown is one of five people accused of murdering Jack McAllister, 19, in June 2017.

McAllister, also known as Jade Fearn, died at 12.48am on June 8.

Natasha Ruffell, Brown, Laura Scheepers, David Wilson, and a 24-year-old woman with name suppression – are on trial for murder. Brayden Whiting-Roff and a 17-year-old with name suppression have already pleaded guilty to murder charges.

Detective Sergeant Mark McCloy in the interview asked Brown if he saw the stabbing.

‘‘I seen one, two, four times, like four in one big whack, whack, whack.’’

The first ‘‘swipe’’, inflicted by principal assailant Brayden Whiting-Roff, was when McAllister was in the car, Brown said.

‘‘Brayden was there and [the 17-year-old woman with name suppression who has already pleaded guilty] was punching him, Brayden was punching him and then kicked him ... and then the swipe went in.’’

At one point McAllister came running towards Brown, ‘‘full tit, straight at me’’.

‘‘I lifted my right leg up and I got him in the hip cos I thought he was coming in to tackle me to the ground and take me out.’’

McCloy asked why Brown did not just step out of the way and let McAllister ‘‘sprint off into the darkness’’.

‘‘You know he’s already been stabbed.’’

Brown said he did not know why.

‘‘Well, I put it to you that you did that because you wanted to prevent him getting away,’’ McCloy said.

Brown said he had tried to restrain Whiting-Roff who said: ‘‘let me go or else I’m gonna stab you too, Chris’’.

Whiting-Roff got out of Brown’s restraint and went out to the field to carry on punching McAllister, Brown said.

During the attack, WhitingRoff threw the knife over to the concrete, and Brown picked it up so Whiting-Roff would not get it again, Brown said.

Brown said he started walking to the carpark with Scheepers and was going to call the police, and he saw McAllister and his friend Braydon McKay leave.

McAllister looked at Brown from the car, he said.

‘‘... in fright and I looked back, and I was like, I was shitting myself.’’

Brown said ‘‘I’m sorry’’ through his facial expression when McAllister looked at him, he said.

Driving back to Natasha Ruffell’s house in Ettrick St, they hid the knife in a bush by the museum, Brown said.

At Ettrick St, everyone was going on about what happened and he ‘‘couldn’t bear it’’.

‘‘I started shaking in the room and going in and out of consciousness.’’

An ambulance was called for Brown and when it arrived at Southland Hospital, staff told him a 19-year-old boy had just passed away, he said.

‘‘That’s when my gut just dropped, like everything had fallen apart for me.’’

The trial continues.

‘‘I seen one, two, four times, like four in one big whack, whack, whack.’’ Christopher Brown in a recorded police interview from June 8