Teenager sawn into 12 pieces, court told

Teenager Hayden Miles was brutally bashed to death before being sawn into 12 pieces and dumped in two Christchurch graveyards, a court heard today. The grisly details emerged on the opening day of the High Court trial of Gavin John Gosnell, 28, who denies murdering 15-year-old Hayden on August 22, 2011. Gosnell admits his savage and prolonged beating led to the schoolboy's death, but his defence team argues he should be convicted of manslaughter, not murder, because he did not intend for Hayden to die.

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He started his attack on Hayden after the teen riled him by saying Vaux-Phillips was using him and didn't like him. Gosnell repeatedly punched and kicked Hayden's head and body, saying he "deserved it", Vaux-Phillips said. Hayden tried to get away but Gosnell only punched him harder. Gosnell made him clean himself up three or four times before laying into him again. Hayden begged for Gosnell to stop and for his female friend to help him. The attack only ceased when an unconscious Hayden was "breathing funny", like he was running out of air, Vaux-Phillips said. After showering him, Gosnell laid Hayden naked on the couch and went to bed with his girlfriend. In the morning, Vaux-Phillips checked Hayden for a pulse and couldn't find one. "He was dead," she told the court. "I told Gavin he was dead ... he just carried on walking outside." Gosnell laid Hayden on the floor and turned the radio on, she said. He proceeded to cut up the dead teenager - first, with a knife, and then with a portable bandsaw. She witnessed the start of the dismembering before returning to her bedroom. Gosnell laughed as he brought through body parts to show her, she said.

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