A killer who stabbed a 17-year-old boy in the heart over a $50 cap has been lashed for a vulgar gesture he made outside of court.
Joshua Horton was found guilty of manslaughter for stabbing Maaka Hakiwai through the chest and into the heart in a brutal attack in September 2019.
The teenage boy was waiting for a bus with his older brother Nathanial when they were set upon by a group including Horton and two others who wanted to steal the older boy’s Philadelphia 76ers cap.
Grieving father Stirling Hakiwai questioned the jury’s verdict in the Supreme Court of Victoria and labelled the crime as murder at a hearing on Tuesday.
“He was defenceless,” an emotional Mr Hakiwai told the court.
The broken-hearted father said he saw Horton put his middle finger up at a news camera after he was led out from court following the verdict.
“It wasn’t just aimed at the camera – it pointed at us all,” he said of the gesture.
“It was a big F U.”
During the hearing he and his wife broke down and sobbed as a memorial video from the teen’s Queensland rugby league club was aired.
The family moved to New Zealand after the horrendous crime so they could be close to where Maaka was buried, they told the court.
Horton also stabbed Nathanial through his leg, but despite life-threatening injuries, the teen survived the attack. Horton was found guilty of intentionally cause serious injury in relation to this attack.
“You may have stabbed Maaka in the heart, but on that day you stabbed my entire family in the heart,” Nathanial said in a statement on Tuesday.
He said he blamed himself for his brother’s death and that his brother died for nothing.
“I wish I stayed in Queensland, so Maaka wouldn’t have been there that day,” he said.
The pair’s seven-year-old sister also wrote about her brother’s death, which her father read to the court.
“I miss him chasing me around the house – he called me bubby,” the child said.
Her brother was killed by a “very, very bad person”, she told the judge.
“I remember crying at his funeral because I could never see him again,” the girl said.
Horton, Chol Kur and another male – who cannot be named for legal reasons – spotted the brothers while they were joy riding with girls.
Kur and the other male approached the pair to steal the cap but when Nathanial refused they attacked.
Horton then jumped out of the car and stabbed Maaka and knifed his older brother when he tried to help.
Kur and the other male both pleaded guilty to robbery and were also at the pre-sentence hearing.
The hearing continues in front of Justice Andrew Tinney.
"vulgar" - Google News
June 22, 2021 at 01:25PM
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Father of slain teen Maaka Hakiwai’s anger at Joshua Horton’s vulgar gesture - NEWS.com.au
"vulgar" - Google News
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