Teenager faces murder charges after throwing a brick at motorway

July 3, 2006

A 15-year-old, whose name has not been released for legal reasons, is in court charged with murder after he dropped an eight-kilogram concrete block on a car and killed the driver.

Christopher Currie was driving along Auckland's southern motorway in a Honda Civic car last August when the concrete block smashed through the windscreen killing him instantly.

"[The] accused stood on the over bridge and timed the release of the concrete block to hit a car passing underneath" prosecutor Aaron Perkins told the High Court. The accused was positioned so that the driver was unable to see them and take evasive action. They later ran from the scene of the crime and bragged to friends about it.

The defence says that the accused did not mean to murder anyone.

There were three other passengers in the car which the Crown is scheduled to call on to give evidence, along with 33 other witnesses.