One of the two teenagers charged with the murder of Maryborough man John Bourke told police he did not want to kill the intended target of an assault, a Supreme Court jury has heard.
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Mr Bourke was discovered dead in his Derby Road home on July 15, 2018.
In videos of their police interviews, the court heard the boys - then aged 15 and 17 - were at a house party near Mr Bourke's home on the night of July 14, 2018.
The younger of the boys told police he wanted to speak to a man that night - not Mr Bourke - who lived on Derby Road and had allegedly sexually abused another teenager.
The older boy said the pair left the party because the other boy was "going off his head" and calling someone a paedophile.
He told police he was standing on Mr Bourke's front lawn when the younger boy "went up the stairs at him".
He said the other teenager threw the first punch.
But he told police he hit Mr Bourke twice and stomped on his legs, while the younger boy stomped on Mr Bourke's head.
THE TRIAL SO FAR:
DAY ONE: MURDER TRIAL BEGINS
DAY THREE: SOUNDED LIKE SOMEONE 'WAS BEING ABUSED'
When asked what Mr Bourke was doing, the teenager said he was "just saying 'stop'".
"So he was defenceless?" Detective Senior Constable Mark Berens asked.
"Pretty much," the boy responded.
He told police he tried to stop the younger boy assaulting Mr Bourke, but he kept going.
When he left, he said, Mr Bourke was still alive.
"He was saying 'Stop, stop, stop', he was still talking and s**t," he said.
His co-accused said he remembered kicking Mr Bourke's face a couple of times and running out the door.
He first told police he "just wanted to talk" to the man accused of abuse, but later said he wanted to assault him. He said he did not want to kill him.
The court heard the two accused travelled along Derby Road the day after the party.
Both boys told police that when the younger of the pair pointed out the house of the man accused of abuse, the other boy said that was not the house they had been the night before.
The younger boy said he "nearly broke down".
"Because that wasn't supposed to go that far... and I got the wrong house," he said.
Both accused told police they had not met the man accused of sexual abuse.
The boys told police they were drinking the night of the party.
The court heard neither of the accused had prior convictions for violent offending.
Both have pleaded not guilty to murder.
The prosecution and defence will deliver their closing statements next week, before the jury retires to deliberate.
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