AUCKLAND -- The trial of nine Japanese students accused of beating a fellow Japanese schoolmate to death in a savage three-hour ordeal began in New Zealand Monday.

Nozomu Shinozaki, 22, from Yokohama was killed on February 26, during an attack at the Columbus Academy for disturbed Japanese teenagers in west Auckland.

The shocking murder has raised questions about how an unlicensed and unsupervised educational institution was set up in New Zealand without the knowledge of local authorities, AFP reported.

The depositions hearing of nine fellow Japanese students charged with Shinozaki's kidnapping, assault and murder began in North Shore District Court Monday.

Soon Keuk Kim, director of the now closed Columbus Academy, who is also known as Katsuo Kanamori, may also be charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice after allegedly telling students not to cooperate with the police inquiry.

The accused students are: Kazuhiro Sato, 19; Ryu Fukushima, 22; Ryuji Hiraki, 26; Hidetka Nishide, 26; Masato Fujita, 20; Motomu Kobori, 19; Daisuke Fukuda, 20; Tomohisa Kato, 17; and Nobu Oshima, 18.

Prosecutor Margaret Rogers said Kim, who came to New Zealand in 1994, ran an operation that looked after problem children of Japanese families. They were charged 36,000 NZ dollars (20,000 U.S.) a year per child.

At the time of Shinozaki's death, there were about 50 people living in three houses at West Harbor Drive.

"The conditions can be described as squalid," Rogers said.

There was overcrowding, only basic food and toilet areas, no fire safety, and little or no supervision.

Shinozaki came to New Zealand in 1998 because the treatment he had been receiving for autism in Japan was longer available.

With little or no supervision, Shinozaki displayed numerous behavioral problems -- including petty theft and minor arson. None of these were reported to police, Rogers said.

On February 25, at the regular morning meeting at the academy, Shinozaki was confronted by Kim and students about his offending. He admitted the thefts and arson and apologized, but the students were not satisfied, the court heard.

That night, they convened a meeting in the music studio and just after midnight Shinozaki was escorted from his bedroom.

He was "interrogated", and the defendants became "enraged" with the victim and the apology repeated, Rogers said.

Shinozaki was then set upon by the nine defendants both as a group and individually.

One defendant was identified as having kicked or punched Shinozaki 40 times, while two others hit him over the head and back with a steel chair.

Shinozaki vomited twice during the beating, and suffered welts from head to toe. On at least three occasions, he tried to escape, but he was dragged back.

Before the beginning of the hearing, expected to take two weeks, Rogers said up to 59 witnesses, many from Japan could, be called to give evidence in person.

Shinozaki's death has sparked a multi-agency inquiry into how the institution set up in New Zealand without the knowledge or scrutiny of local authorities.