A High Court jury in Napier will today resume deliberations seeking a verdict in a Hastings man's second trial on a charge of manslaughter resulting from the death of his girlfriend's 5-month-old son.
The jury hearing the case against Trent Owen Ngaruhe Hapuku, 23, yesterday heard closing addresses by Crown prosecutor Steve Manning and defence counsel Eric Forster, and Justice Forrest Miller's summary before retiring just before 2pm.
With no verdict by 5.45pm, the Judge sent the panel of seven men and five women home for the night, to return today at 9.15am.
The key issues surround the timing of any act which led to the death of baby Mikara Ranui Darius Reti, pronounced dead in Hawke's Bay Hospital on January 11, 2011, soon after Hapuku arrived carrying the child in a blanket and accompanied by the baby's mother, Jamie Reti.
Justice Miller told the jury that for Hapuku to be found guilty the Crown had to have proven he was the killer, that there was an assault committed by him and it was a "substantial" cause of death, although it did not have to have been intended to harm the boy.