New Zealand June 29 2018

A teenager charged with the manslaughter of a Countdown security guard – the incident was caught on CCTV – can now be named.

Sydney Jayden Kokiri, 18, has pleaded not guilty and is due to go on trial next year.

Last month the Herald revealed that the guard – Serbian national Goran Milosavljevic – was assaulted in the Papakura Countdown store on May 2 and died early the next morning.

Milosavljevic, who had worked at the store for eight months, was allegedly felled by a single punch to the head from Kokiri when Milosavljevic approached the teen, suspicious of his behaviour.

The incident was captured on CCTV and happened in front of a number of shoppers.

Kokiri was arrested and later charged with manslaughter.

He appeared in the High Court at Auckland last month and entered a plea of not guilty.

Justice Simon Moore granted him a continuation of the name suppression until June 12 when the issue was argued again before Justice Anne Hinton.

Later that day Justice Hinton delivered her judgment, denying Kokiri continued name suppression.

The judge reissued her amended judgment today suppressing counsel’s submissions, but again denying Kokiri name suppression.

The teen’s counsel, Ish Jayanandan, has not indicated to the Herald an appeal of Justice Hinton’s decision.

Kokiri’s trial has been scheduled for April 2019.

After Milosavljevic died, Countdown managing director Dave Chambers said his colleagues were “deeply saddened by this tragic loss”.

“No New Zealander should go to work and not expect to return home to their loved ones,” he said.

“Our focus right now is to support the family and our team in whatever way we can.

“We’ve also made as much information and footage as we have available to the police and will continue to cooperate with their investigation.”

Milosavljevic moved to New Zealand in 2009 and had worked for Countdown Papakura for eight months.

He previously worked for Allied Security.

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