It started as a regular Saturday night in April last year for one 16-year-old in Auckland. He'd met with friends to watch a Warriors game. On his drive home, this young man saw something that stopped him in his tracks.
"I saw this person start attacking a person at the bus stop with what I thought was a baseball bat at the time. He was just swinging at the victim."
The young witness, who we can't identify, felt panicked. But he had the sense to call 111. He'd already checked on the victim. "I knew I needed to see if this person was OK. I knew instantly he was like, he was dead."
Prior to this, the teenager says he almost crashed into the offenders' vehicle as it quickly took off. As this happened, he made what turned out to be a crucial observation. "Yeah, I saw a missing headlight."
This information helped identify the vehicle used, which led to the first two arrests. More arrests eventually followed. In total, four young men, mostly in their teens, were charged with murder and aggravated robbery.
The man who was killed was Kyle Whorrall. He was a 33-year-old American PhD student, who was randomly targeted and fatally wounded with a machete.
It's one of two cases in the last week in which five young people have been convicted of crimes involving weapons and a senior Detective Inspector is worried his officers are having to deal with an increase in knife-related crime.
Detective Inspector Glenn Baldwin has been in the police force for decades. He says the job out on the street has radically changed.
Sixteen-year-old's crucial evidence that helped crack Kyle Whorrall case - Watch on TVNZ+
“There’s been a steady growth [of knife crime]. Back in the 90s when I was on the streets, it was far less common than it is now. Our staff face threats from all manner of weapons.”
In Auckland, four young men were convicted of manslaughter and aggravated robbery for the machete attack on Whorrall. Another teenager had already pleaded guilty to murder.
Sixteen-year-old charged with murder and aggravated robbery, remanded in custody. (Source: 1News)
“I don't believe there's any evidence to link Kyle to these people," Baldwin said. "I think he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it was an opportunist thing and a random thing, and a tragedy occurred, and it was so senseless.”
In the same week, another teenager was convicted of murder for a fatal knife attack on 15-year-old Kaea Karauria that took place in Napier. Two other young people had already pleaded guilty of manslaughter in that case.
That’s eight young men facing possibly lengthy sentences.
And two others – a teenager and a 33-year-old – whose lives have been tragically cut short.
What could have been petty robberies or minor confrontations turned into serious crime.
In the case in Napier, the convicted teenager didn’t know his victim either. The offender joined the attack because one of his friends was upset about a minor incident at a party weeks earlier.
The defence argued the offender didn’t know his actions could cause death as he had an intellectual impairment and had been drinking alcohol. But the jury found him guilty after deliberations lasting only a couple of hours.
These incidents involving bladed weapons are an increasing concern for Baldwin and officers throughout the country.
“What happens in a 24-hour period in Tamaki Makaurau, and the amount of weapons and guns [used] is frightening”, he warned.
Baldwin said the problem requires stronger messaging, particularly to young men.
"It's not OK to walk around with a knife in your pocket in downtown Auckland or any other city."
In fact, it’s an offence. “I don’t know if everybody knows that, but it is, and you can be arrested and charged. So to people that do that – please don't. Please stop. Just don't."
Watch Gill Higgins' report into the Kyle Whorral case on TVNZ+
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