Witnesses in the trial of a 14-year-old boy accused of murdering man Kelly Donner have described finding him lying a pool of blood.

The trial of one of the youngest people ever accused of murder, is underway at the High Court in Napier.

On Monday, the teenager admitted to robbing Kelly, 40, in March, but said he did not kill him.

The crown says the accused stabbed him four times over an argument about a torch.

Prosector Steve Manning said the alleged offender and four other teenagers were planning to rob the bottle shop attached to the Flax Bar and Eatery on March 4, 2018.

But upon entering a caged area at the back of the shop they found Kelly Donner.

The teen asked to borrow Kelly's torch, but would not give it back, said Steve.

"It seems the catalyst, the trigger, for this incident is something as silly as an argument over a torch.

The five youths turned on Kelly, even throwing a bicycle at him, he said.

"He had a beer bottle smashed over this face and then all hell broke loose. Immediately, these five young people began to attack him, and they attacked him with beer bottles, pieces of wood and fence pailings..."

The Crown argued that Kelly then tried to retreat but the accused, who emerged from the shadows with a knife in his hand, attacked him.

CCTV footage showed the teen carrying a knife before and after the attack, but there is no footage of the actual attack.

The Crown said the jury would hear from eye witnesses what happened during those 34 seconds not recorded on CCTV.

The accused's lawyer Eric Forster declined to give an opening speech.

The court heard Kelly was discovered by a witness, severely injured on a grassy area outside the Flax Bar and Eatery, just a few metres from where he was attacked.

The woman, who has name suppression, described finding him in a pool of blood. He was alive but blood was coming out of his neck.

She described calling an ambulance as Kelly spoke his final words.

"Those bastards," she said he told her.

"Later on he told me to help him," she said.

Earlier, another witness Horiana Williams told the court she had been at the laundromat in Flaxmere Village the night Kelly was killed.

She'd met him there several times before as it was a place he would charge his phone and store his backpack.

Kelly was "clean and neatly dressed" she said.

The court also heard from the paramedic who attended to Kelly, and from two police officers who were among the first at the scene.

The court is sitting in 40 minute blocks, with breaks every hour, to accommodate the needs of the alleged offender. This was to ensure he did not have to concentrate for too long.

The teenager also has an official communicator to help him understand what is happening throughout the trial.

The trial is due to last two weeks.