Driver guilty of manslaughter after Lyttelton picket death

A jury in the High Court at Christchurch has found Derek Paul Powell guilty of the manslaughter of Lyttelton picket Christine Clarke, after deliberating for almost 12 1/2 hours.

Ms Clarke, a 45-year-old mother of two, died of brain injuries two days after being struck by Powell's four-wheel-drive vehicle while she was standing on a picket line at the Port of Lyttelton on December 29, 1999.

Powell showed little emotion to the jury's verdict and there was also little reaction from those in the public seats.

Ms Clarke's mother, who had been in the public seats throughout the nine-day trial, was not in court to hear the verdict.

The jury of nine men and three women retired about 11 am on Thursday. They returned to the courtroom that afternoon to review television video tapes of the picket line and the aftermath of the incident, as well as the tape of Powell's 111 call and his videotaped police interview.

Powell's counsel, Pip Hall, had argued that the Port of Lyttelton picket was illegal, and that Powell drove off after being illegally detained and attacked by picketers.

The Crown said Powell could have retreated by reversing his 1.8-tonne Land Cruiser. It said the fact that the picket was illegal was irrelevant, and Powell had driven forward out of impatience or anger, not as an act of self-defence.

In his summing up on Thursday, Justice Graham Panckhurst said questions for the jury to consider included: "Was Derek Powell attacked at the picket line? If he was, was his reaction in driving his four-wheel-drive forward in the way that he did, reasonable, and in any event was the driving dangerous or careless in the circumstances?"

He told the jury that it must bring in a verdict uninfluenced by emotion or prejudice.

"Christine Clarke was obviously a very socially conscious woman, active within the community. Obviously a mother, a wife, and daughter, who was precious within her family circle. Her death is nothing less than an absolute tragedy," he said.

He said the court had spent eight days hearing evidence to consider the situation that had faced Powell when he was stopped at the picket line.

He told the jury: "You have to place yourselves in his shoes or, more accurately, in his seat, as the driver.

"Did he drive forward in self-defence? Was it an act that was defensive in nature or was it - as the Crown said - born of impatience, if not anger?

"If he acted to defend himself from attack, was the force that he used reasonable or was it quite disproportionate, to accelerate his 1.8-tonne four-wheel-drive vehicle forward along the roadway, given the circumstances?"