13-year-old admits to manslaughter after shooting friend

A New Zealand boy pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his 11-year-old friend.

A 13-year-old New Zealand boy pleaded guilty Tuesday to the manslaughter of his 11-year-old friend, making him one of the country's youngest killers, reports said.

The boy, who cannot be named, was aged 12 when he shot his friend with a semi-automatic rifle at a farm in the country's North Island in July last year, Gisborne High Court was told.

The boy told his victim not to "get cheeky" during an argument about a hunting trip, then prodded him with the rifle and fatally shot the 11-year-old as he walked away, the Waikato Times reported.

Police initially charged the boy with murder but changed the indictment after a police armourer could not exclude the possibility that the weapon was discharged accidentally, the newspaper said.

It further explained that Judge Forrest Miller ruled that it was appropriate to convict the boy after hearing evidence from expert witnesses that, despite his youth, he could distinguish between right and wrong.

The defendant’s father pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice after attempting to cover up his son's involvement in the killing.

The newspaper said both father and son would be sentenced on December 7.

It noted that previously, New Zealand's youngest convicted killer was another 12-year-old boy who admitted to manslaughter in 2001 over his involvement in the stabbing death of a pizza delivery man.