The mother of a 14-year-old boy who was today sentenced for killing a west Auckland dairy owner blames herself for where her son has ended up, the boy's lawyer says.
It came as the court heard how the teenager suffered from a serious brain injury and a "turbulent" upbringing.
He was around 13 years and six months old when he stabbed Arun Kumar three times at the Railside Dairy in Henderson. The third time the knife plunged into Mr Kumar's neck, and the dairy owner and family man bled to death.
The name of the 14-year-old can't be published because his lawyer Marie Pecotic has appealed Justice Graham Lang's decision to lift his name suppression.
Ms Pecotic said at his sentencing that a difficult upbringing was behind the teen's attack on Mr Kumar, and Justice Lang agreed.
The boy's early life was "turbulent in the extreme", Justice Lang said.
His family life "is what none of us would want any young person to live through", Ms Pecotic said after court.
The 14-year-old presented symptoms of Foetal Alcohol Syndrome, according to an expert who gave evidence during the trial.
At age 8, he was struck by a vehicle and sustained a fractured skull. He suffered a serious traumatic brain injury that would put an adult off work for two years, Justice Lang said.
Ms Pecotic said after sentencing that the teenager's mother feels responsible for where her son has ended up.
"She does blame herself," she said.
"It's an absolute tragedy. There's a lot of poverty that is behind it, a lack of skills, lack of education, lack of support for them."
Since his arrest the teenager has been kept at a Youth Justice Residence, and had made "wonderful progress" according to Ms Pecotic.
"He said he wanted to have a bed, meals, and be able to go to school," she said in court.
He will serve his minimum non-parole sentence of three years and three months at the residence and will go to school every day, participate in sport, get help for his problems with drug and alcohol and learn life skills.
Ms Pecotic hopes he will never have to go to an adult prison.
"The minimum non-parole period means he's going to be 16 years and nine months [when he is eligible for parole].
"I really hope Child, Youth and Family Services can put in place a plan that ensures he isn't sent to prison... It would be good that he has a plan in place that he is released into the community."
She had a lot of sympathy for the family of Mr Kumar, Ms Pecotic said, and the teenager understood the magnitude of what he had done.
"It's been a horrific experience for him. He was only 13-and-a-half when this happened.... he had nightmares, he was absolutely shattered to the core.
"This is something he never ever wanted to happen."
The teen "has a number of skills" and is "excellent" at sports, Ms Pecotic said.
"He is a young person of incredibly high potential," she said.
"It's a crying shame that there wasn't intervention a lot earlier, and this would never have happened and he would never have been before the courts."
