The scene of the attack. Photo: RNZ / Tess Brunton
A 14-year-old boy who killed a Dunedin high school student with a kitchen knife is appealing his conviction and sentence.
The teenager was charged with murdering 16-year-old Trinity Catholic College student Enere McLaren-Taana at the city's bus hub in May last year.
A jury acquitted the boy of murder but found him guilty of manslaughter and he was later sentenced to three years and three months in prison at the High Court last month.
The teenager was granted permanent name suppression but Justice Osborne refused the defence's application not to enter a conviction despite acknowledging he might get deported.
The Court of Appeal confirmed challenges to the conviction and sentence had been filed but it could not share the grounds of appeal.
No hearing date has been set for the appeal.
Enere McLaren-Taana Photo: Facebook screenshot
After the sentencing, the victim's father John McLaren told reporters that he was disappointed by the sentence and that his son's killer could not be named.
"We're not happy with the outcome today because personally I don't think that's enough. Nowhere near enough," he said.
During the sentencing, Justice Osborne who also oversaw the jury trial told the teenager that it was not self defence and the video evidence showed him immediately chasing McLaren-Taana after pulling out the knife following a verbal spat.
It was an aggressive attack against someone who was vulnerable as he did not want to be seen as "sackless", Osborne said.
Graphic CCTV footage showed the 60 seconds it took for the teenager to get off the bus to security intervening while McLaren-Taana clutched a stab wound.
He later died in hospital.
