Actions likened to being in 'stolen car'

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A l5-year-old girl charged with murdering retired Opotiki teacher John Rowe was like a passenger getting into a stolen car which then crashes, says her lawyer.

"The driver tells her at first it is going to be okay, but it is not okay," Gene Tomlinson told a jury in the High Court at Rotorua today.

The girl, who has name suppression, and Courtney Churchward, 18, have pleaded not guilty to Mr Rowe's murder, after they broke into his home and attacked him on November 25 last year.

Churchward was the driver and his client the passenger, who had no idea Mr Rowe was going to be killed, Mr Tomlinson said.

He said it was natural the jury would have sympathy for Mr Rowe and his family - possibly too for his client, who was 14 at the time, but he asked them to put that to one side.

The girl could have been guilty of burglary, theft or receiving "but these charges are not for this day", he said.

No one had any real idea what happened in Mr Rowe's bedroom. Churchward had said it was dark and she had not been able to see her co-accused, Mr Tomlinson said.

In Intercepted phone conversations with her boyfriend, the girl said it was Churchward's idea to ransack Mr Rowe's house.

The boyfriend had given evidence that she told him what Churchward did was not "part of the plan".

Mr Tomlinson said there was no evidence of the girl inflicting injuries or any murderous intent on her part.

She did nothing to encourage the fatal blows and had not been party to murder, Mr Tomlinson said.

She had relied on an older, more experienced person.

"She was silly, stupid, but she didn't cause his [Mr Rowe's] death or help in his death. Never forget how young she is. Judge her as a 14-year-old not old enough to leave school yet."

The jury is expected to retire tomorrow morning after Justice Geoffrey Venning's summing-up. He has indicated that will take about an hour.

- NZPA