Teen who stabbed two kids after his mates tried to steal a cap has been found NOT GUILTY of murder

The man who stabbed teenager Maaka Hakiwai and his brother after an attempt by hits mates to steal a cap has been found not guilty of murder. 

Instead, Josh Horton – who was 18 at the time –  will go down for the lesser charge of manslaughter, which he had already pleaded guilty to before even going to trial. 

The jury on Tuesday also found him guilty of intentionally causing serious injury to Maaka’s brother Nate, whom he stabbed in the leg seconds after killing his brother. 

Horton had also pleaded guilty to a lesser charge over that stabbing, which was overturned by the jury of 12.  

Joshua Horton has pleaded not guilty to murder

Makaa’s basketball top after being stabbed to death on Grand Final Day 2019

Maaka Hakiwai (right), 17, was killed and his ‘best friend’ brother Nate (left) was left fighting for life

The verdict is expected to outrage friends and family of the boys, who turned out in their hundreds at Maaka’s funeral. 

In coming to the conclusion, the jury further found that Horton must not have known his two mates – who cannot be named due to their age – had tried to rob the boys. 

Prosecutors had hit Horton with not one, but two counts of murder in the hope of securing a conviction. 

The second count had acted as an alternative that would have allowed the jury to find Horton guilty if they accepted he knew about the plan to rob the pair. 

The jury had heard the youths had been cruising about town looking to ‘drill’ someone, when they spotted the brothers waiting for the bus.

Horton had been seated directly between his two younger mates when they had the conversation about robbing the pair. 

Horton’s barrister Sam Norton had argued his client only intervened when he saw his mate go to ground. 

He told the jury Horton had expressed remorse for the stabbings and had asked a friend ‘which one’ when he was told one of the boys had died. 

Maaka Hakiwai (right), 17, was killed and his ‘best friend’ brother Nate (left) were ambushed while waiting for a bus

Hundreds gathered to farewell Maaka after he was stabbed to death while waiting for a bus with his brother Nate 

Moments from tragedy. The Hakiwai brothers walk to the bus stop where they would be attacked 

Had the jury been told about Horton’s ‘complex criminal history’ the jury may well have acted differently. 

Under the law, a person accused of murder is entitled to have their criminal history hidden from a jury in the hope of obtaining a fair trial. 

Mr Norton told the jury Horton had no intention of assisting in the robbery and only wanted to help his mates, whom he believed were at risk of injury. 

He told the jury Horton said nothing before stabbing the boys, indicating he was not in on the plan to rob them. 

‘He doesn’t make any demands. He doesn’t try to grab anything,’ he said. 

Mr Norton further claimed that he had already fled when his co-offenders took the hat off the critically injured Nate. 

‘He stays in the car,’ he told the jury. 

‘It’s only when (his mate) gets knocked to the ground.’

Mr Norton said that alone ought pose a reasonable enough doubt for them to acquit his client. 

He was right.   

Horton will be sentenced at a date to be fixed. 

Nate Hakiwai attended his brother’s funeral just days after being almost stabbed to death by Horton. He expressed a deep hatred for his brother’s killer during his recent trial 

Haunting footage from the scene showed paramedics working on one of the brothers as he lay in a pool of his own blood on the quiet suburban street

Markers show where the attack happened and how far Maaka got before he fell to the ground and died

Maaka was able to stumble down the footpath before he fell and bled out