Teen watched as Litchfield fight started
A teenager has described watching a fight start between two people in the middle of Pinjarra Road on the night sailmaker Tauri Litchfield is alleged to have been murdered by six boys on the same street.
Giving evidence in the Perth Children's Court this afternoon, Brodie Milner Isaac Kerry said he saw an Aboriginal person and a Caucasian person approach each other from opposite sides of the road on the evening of March 17 last year.
"The Aboriginal had his arms up ... a fighting stance, fists up," Mr Kerry told the court.
He said the white man had his arms out, palms forward, at about waist height.
But Mr Kerry, a passenger in a car driving past the scene, also told the court that he did not see any punches or kicks between the two people.
The 18-year-old, whose mother was driving him to the Mandurah foreshore to meet a friend, said there had been a group of about five or six people standing on the side of the road adjacent to the two "guys".
Six teenagers, who are aged 14 to 16 and not identified for legal reasons, are facing trial after each pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Litchfield on March 17.
The prosecution case alleges that one of the boys, who had turned 14 a week before the incident, physically attacked Mr Litchfield after the older man clipped him over the back of the head for touching his back pocket or attempting to take his wallet.
The 14-year-old is accused of punching Mr Litchfield with enough force to knock him off his feet and then kicking him as he lay in bushes.
The group is accused of chasing Mr Litchfield after he got to his feet and fled.
The 28-year-old then tripped or fell over a ledge on to a bitumen carpark, suffering a fractured skull and traumatic brain injury. He died in hospital later that night.
Mr Kerry told the court that as he and his mother drove past, the two people were in the centre of the road and slowly circling one another.
He said he turned back to watch the incident because of his "normal teenage interest" in looking at a fight.
"I seen a fight start to happen in the middle of Pinjarra Road," Mr Kerry said.
"I seen two guys walk out in the centre of the road, one with his arms up and the other with his arms out."
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Scott Corish, Mr Kerry agreed he did not witness any punching or kicking.
