The murder charge against Dunedin psychiatrist Colin Bouwer relied on blinkered medical views, fundamentally flawed forensic tests, and ridiculous motives, his lawyers told the High Court at Christchurch yesterday.
For five weeks, the jury had heard prosecution evidence that Bouwer murdered his wife, Annette, with a lethal cocktail of drugs so
he could continue his affair with a fellow psychiatrist, Dr Anne Walsh, and claim on a $262,000 insurance policy.
Bouwer's lawyers yesterday outlined the witnesses they contend would "destroy" the Crown's case against the South African- born psychiatrist.
Anne Stevens said the jury had "only heard half of the story", but said the defence case would deal only with how Mrs Bouwer died and the suggested reasons why her husband would kill her.
"The defence, unlike the Crown, won't be calling evidence purely to blacken someone's character, evidence that the defence suggests is irrelevant and purely prejudicial," she said.
"The Crown case is that Mrs Bouwer died from complications brought about by severe hypoglycaemia [low blood-sugar], attributed wholly and totally to the administration of drugs by Bouwer.
"The defence case is that the Crown have not proved beyond reasonable doubt what she died of.
"Cause of death in this case can only be established by careful and meticulous forensic post-mortem.
"There was no careful and meticulous post-mortem in this case.
"However well-meaning, Professor Han-Seung Yoon set out to prove or disprove the presence of an insulinoma ... and did not establish the cause of death.
"He and senior pathologist Alex Dempster concede that things were not done as they should have been.
"Dr Peter Ellis is a very experienced forensic pathologist and he will give evidence that there were serious deficiencies in the post-mortem. This is a fundamental flaw in the Crown case.
"The defence case is that she was suffering from a pancreatic disorder that causes hypoglycaemia, and there is an abundance of evidence to support this."
Mrs Stevens' first witness was Vincent Marks, "the acknowledged world expert on hypoglycaemia".
Professor Marks said that although he had to rely heavily on records of Mrs Bouwer's first two hospital admissions for hypoglycaemic comas, "the evidence leads me to conclude that she was suffering from endogenous pancreatogenic hyperinsulinaemic hypoglycaemia".
He is to be cross-examined today.
- NZPA
