Basketball player found guilty of match assault

A former Otago basketball player and Otago Nuggets team assistant coach has been found responsible for causing permanent physical and mental injury to an opposing player during a competitive game of basketball last year.

David Trevor Jarvis, 43, an executive officer now living in Australia, had denied deliberately elbowing Otago University student Tony Ashton, now 21, of Nelson, during a game between Otago University and St Kilda Wildcats teams on May 8 last year.

A Dunedin District Court jury took about 3 1/2 hours yesterday to find Jarvis guilty of injuring Mr Ashton under circumstances that, if death had been caused, he would have been guilty of manslaughter.

Mr Ashton suffered a traumatic brain injury and was unconscious for 13 days after the incident, the court was told.

He was unlikely to recover fully and would remain severely disabled.

Judge Stephen O'Driscoll remanded Jarvis on continued bail until tomorrow when he is likely to be sentenced.

Prosecutor Marie Grills said the Crown view was the offence was at the lower end of the scale for the particular charge. It would not be seeking jail.

The main issue was reparation and emotional harm.

Defence counsel John Westgate said Jarvis had been planning to return to Australia next Monday but that arrangement was "flexible". The court was told the incident happened after Mr Ashton cut across the court to position himself under the hoop.

Crown witnesses said he had completed the manoeuvre when Jarvis intentionally elbowed him in the head and he fell heavily to the ground.

But the defence contended Mr Ashton was still running to his position when he collided with Jarvis' elbow. Evidence from consultant neurosurgeon Suzanne Jackson was that the traumatic brain injury which left Mr Ashton severely disabled could have been caused either by the blow from Jarvis' elbow or by Mr Ashton's head striking the ground. The judge, summing up, told the jury the defence accepted there had been contact but in the context of a game between two high performance teams the contact which resulted in injury arose from a collision and not an unlawful act.

The Crown case, argued by Mrs Grills, was the blow was deliberate, and was an assault.

She had said that contention was supported by what two witnesses believed had been threats by Jarvis beforehand.

But Mr Westgate said Jarvis was not doing anything illegal or wrong, and there was no deliberate elbow jab.

Jarvis had been blocking an opposing player from moving around the court and any contact was unintentional.

OFFICIALS PONDER IMPLICATIONS

Basketball authorities were last night absorbing the David Jarvis' conviction for assault. Basketball Otago chairman John Gallaher would not comment on the verdict or its implications for players and referees while Basketball NZ chief executive David Crocker said the body would not comment until it understood "the full context and circumstances" of the case.

The international basketball federation website says basketball is generally considered a non-contact sport. However, it was a physical game, Mr Crocker said. "When you get 10 big players in one small area, physical contact does happen."

Asked why police chose to lay charges against Jarvis, Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis said the reason was simple. "The evidence, supported by a legal opinion, was such that a prosecution was warranted."

- NZPA