A court has ruled a boy charged with murdering a 28-year-old West Australian man does have a case to answer.
Six boys, aged between 14 and 16, were originally accused of murdering Tauri Litchfield in Mandurah, south of Perth, in March last year by assaulting him and chasing him until he tripped over a wall in a car park and suffered fatal brain injuries.
The charge against one of the boys was dropped earlier in the trial, and on Monday, Children's Court president Denis Reynolds was asked to consider throwing out the charge against another.
However, in a ruling on Tuesday, Mr Reynolds said having taken into account all the evidence he had heard, there was a sufficiently strong case to warrant the charge to remain.
The five boys remain on trial in the Perth Children's Court.
The court previously heard one of the boys tried to pickpocket Mr Litchfield who then slapped the teenager on the back of his head with an open palm.
The teenager then punched Mr Litchfield in the jaw, knocking him onto his back into some bushes, before the group surrounded him and chased him until he fell, prosecutors allege.
The trial continues.
