A Hawke's Bay teenager denies bullying a colleague he set on fire at a party last year, saying he was trying to copy a Jackass television stunt.
Matt-Dillon Shannon is on trial in the High Court in Napier after denying a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent after he and some friends set Hayden Calder alight at Shannon's 17th birthday party in Hastings on August 23 last year.
Mr Calder, in a police interview, says Shannon and some friends grabbed him, held him down, poured petrol over him and set him alight with a lighter.
Prosecutor Russell Collins described the case as "a most serious case of bullying", Fairfax reports.
But Shannon said in a police video interview that they set him alight after people at the party talked first about drinking petrol and then about people being set alight in a Jackass movie.
Shannon admitted a charge of causing grievous bodily harm with reckless disregard but denies causing grievous bodily harm with intent.
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