James Hemana 'rough, not evil'

Cezar Taylor. Photo / supplied

James Hemana may be a rough man but he is not evil and did not murder a 6-month-old baby, a court has been told.

Hemana is on trial in the High Court at Auckland for the murder of his girlfriend's son, an act the Crown says was motivated by anger and jealousy.

He is alleged to have violently shaken 6-month-old Cezar Taylor and dropped him onto his bed head-first. The child's head also hit a cabinet.

Hemana has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to failing to provide the necessaries of life.

In his closing address today, Hemana's lawyer Steve Bonnar said the defence case could be summed up in a text message Hemana sent to Cezar's mother, Victoria Taylor, after it was suggested he had punched the child in the head: "I might be rough, but I'm not f****** evil like that,'' it said.

"He has been rough and he's caused Cezar's death and he's going to answer for it. He might be rough but he's not evil like that. He's guilty of manslaughter, he's not guilty of murder,'' Mr Bonnar said.

The key issue for the jury to decide was whether Hemana knew his actions were likely to cause injury or death and whether the six-second shaking incident was "calculated and planned'' as the Crown had suggested.

"The defence simply say to you that this is much much, much, much more consistent with a complete lack of thought.

"If he didn't even think about it, if he didn't even turn his mind to it, that's not murderous intent, that's manslaughter.''

Mr Bonnar said a feature of the trial had been the constant attempts by the Crown to create prejudice against Mr Hemana in the jurors' minds.

It was natural for them to be abhorred by the death of a child, he said, but they could not let that influence their decision.

"A baby has died and it offends us, It offends us as a community. It offends our sense of justice that an innocent child has died, but you don't remove that injustice by creating another injustice and, if you don't consider this calmly and clearly, that's the danger.''

Mr Bonnar earlier said Ms Taylor was a "demonstrated liar'' who had lied to police, her family and medical staff who were trying to save the life of Cezar.

"Unfortunately, ladies and gentlemen, Ms Taylor has a very big axe to grind and she's been grinding away at it for three to four days in this court case.

"He is the only person in the whole sorry saga who has accepted any responsibility at all. Ms Taylor doesn't accept any responsibility for her own failure to obtain medical assistance and the Crown don't seek to sheet that responsibility home to her.

"They've granted her immunity from prosecution.''

Justice Mary Peters will give her closing address tomorrow morning before the jury retires to consider its verdict.