The 38-year-old man accused of murdering teenager Takena Tiepa-Ranapia in Ohauiti last year has admitted in court to stabbing him.

The body of the 19-year-old, who was known locally as Tarks, was found dead on a property in Mansfield Street last in November 2014 having died from a stab wound to the neck.

Hiakita Eruera (left) is currently on trial for murder alongside Paul William Taki. Photo: Andrew Campbell.

Hiakita Eruera is currently on trial for murder alongside his wife, 40-year-old Hyacin Eruera, and Paul William Taki, 37.

While the crown accuses Hiakita Eruera of striking the fatal blow, Hyacin Eruera and Taki are described as fully involved participants, meaning the trio have been charged together.

Whilst giving evidence in Tauranga High Court this morning, Hiakita Eruera admitted to stabbing Takena Tiepa-Ranapia, but continues to deny murder, with his version of events differing from the Crown's.

The accused pointed at the manner in which he was approached by three men, who came off the deck of the Mansfield Street house towards him, causing him to pick up a knife from the bonnet of a car parked outside the property.

With the hand holding the knife, he admits to punching one man, who then turned and ran off. Hiakita Eruera insists he was not aware that the man was injured.

He claims he was at the house peacefully inquiring into allegations that his daughter had been beaten and raped by ‘the boys' at a party on Mansfield Street that same night.

He also denied taking a knife to the party from his Mount Maunganui kitchen.

Hiakita Eruera's admission to stabbing Takena Tiepa-Ranapia as the trial enters its third week was then pounced upon by Crown prosecutor Greg Hollister Jones.

'You stabbed Tarks, or might have stabbed him?” asked Greg. 'Which is it?”

'I believe I stabbed him,” answered Hiakita Eruera.

'So you have known all along that you did that?” replied Greg.

He went on to say Hiakita Eruera came to the trial blaming his daughter for Takena Tiepa-Ranapia's death, and that he hugged her when she came home in a distressed state on November 30.

It is claimed that was how Tarks' blood was on his Mongrel Mob vest, which he was wearing at the time.

Earlier in the trial, the daughter was cross-examined amid suggestions that she had stabbed Tarks after she was thrown out of the party, and that a knife in her room might have been the murder weapon.

'You sat there while she got the blame,” said Greg.

'It was a possibility,” replied Hiakita Eruera.

'But you have known all along what you had done,” said Greg.

He accused Eruera of creating a smokescreen in front of Takena Tiepa-Ranapia's whanau, who have been in the back of the court throughout the public sections of the trial.

'You suggested a group out of the Porirua Mongrel Mob have put the blame on you?” queried Greg.

'I don't understand what you are trying to say sir,” replied Hiakita Eruera.

Hiakita Eruera also denied stabbing one of two young men from the party that he encountered on nearby Ohauiti Road.

He also rejected the forensic evidence of the young man's blood on his boots and denied causing cuts to the young man's body.

Similarly, he denied the evidence of witnesses at the Mansfield Street house that place him in the house, wearing the vest, carrying a knife and demanding to know Tarks' whereabouts.

He subsequently denied any knowledge regarding jugular veins, the carotid artery and where they can be found in the neck, as well as knowing that someone stabbed there with a 10.5cm blade was likely to die.

'Are you seriously telling me that?” asked Greg. 'Where were you brought up?”

He denied instructing Paul Taki to destroy evidence, but admitted to asking Paul to get rid of all the phones collected from their home address in Eversham Road, near Bayfair.

It is claimed he requested this as they were being inundated with messages regarding Tarks' death.

'I asked Paul to get rid of them for that reason,” says Hiakita Eruera.

The jury trial, with Justice Christian Whata presiding, continues.