A Kiwi teenager who died after he and his brother were attacked while walking in Melbourne were reportedly "stabbed over a hat".
Maaka Hakiwai, 17, was fatally stabbed in broad daylight on Saturday afternoon while walking in the suburb of Kings Park with his brother Nathaniel, 18.
The boys were close to their home on Main Rd West, a quiet suburban street, at the time of the attack. Nathaniel remains in Alfred Hospital in a "stable but critical condition".
They were heading to the gym when five men stopped in a vehicle and ordered they give them a hat, a source close to the family told Australian newspaper The Age.
The Hakiwai brothers were raised on Queensland's Gold Coast and were in Melbourne helping their parents, Stirling and Karli Hakiwai, relocate.
According to the family source, conflict erupted after the boys refused to hand over the hat, The Age reports. A man with a knife then got out of the vehicle.
"One boy was lying in a pool of blood and people were rushing out trying to save them.
"We saw family yelling as ambulances arrived," a neighbour told the newspaper.
A GoFundMe page for the Hakiwai family has currently raised more than AU$50,000 (NZ$53,717) towards a AU$60,000 goal (NZ$64,766). The funds will be used to cover Maaka's funeral, care for Nathaniel and compensate for the family's lost income.
"Maaka and Nate were not only brothers they were best friends who did everything together, born less than a year apart the boys were inseparable and loved by all who knew them," the family said in a statement.
Haunting footage from the scene was released by local media, showing paramedics working on one of the teenagers as a distraught woman, understood to be a relative, was consoled by an officer. A trail of blood could be seen staining the pavement for almost 20 metres.
The family were reportedly planning to fly Maaka's body home to New Zealand for his funeral.
Newshub.
