Judge clears poisoning-case husband

By AINSLEY THOMSON

A man accused of poisoning his wife says he has lost his marriage, job and children and blames police for laying charges that were thrown out yesterday by a High Court judge.

A day and a half into a three-day trial in the High Court at Hamilton, Justice Rhys Harrison dismissed the charges against Andrew Scott Wright of attempted murder and attempted grievous bodily harm.

Mr Wright, 33, a former librarian at the University of Waikato's education library, told the Herald he was incredibly relieved the case had been thrown out, but said he was hurt by the experience and blamed the police.

"The whole thing should not have happened. The police failed to carry out a proper investigation. Neither my wife nor I should have had to suffer."

The head of Hamilton CIB, Detective Inspector Bruce Scott, said the police file would be reviewed.

"Senior police investigators will evaluate the case that was presented to the court this week to assure that the best-quality evidence was presented," he said.

Earlier, Kelly Wright had told the court that she believed her husband had used a medicine dropper to poison her during sex.

Stopping the trial, Justice Harrison said there was no evidential basis to support the Crown's case that Mr Wright had tried to poison his wife by putting polyester catalyst into cups of her coffee in August last year.

Mr Wright said he had not ruled out seeking redress for his ordeal, but said: "At this stage I'm so terrified of the police I wouldn't dare cross their path."

He said he had been asked to resign from his last job at the Universal College of Learning library in Palmerston North.

He had barely seen his children in the past year. "No one can imagine what that suffering is like."

However, he said he carried no ill feeling towards his wife. "I'm also hurt on behalf of her because she shouldn't have been made to go through this.

"I don't want stories about what a wicked, nasty person she is. She might be unwell, but I don't want people thinking she is malicious or nasty."

He said it was unlikely they would reconcile, but he hoped they would reach an amicable arrangement.

In court, Justice Harrison said the Crown's case relied on the jury accepting Mrs Wright's evidence that she had secretly watched her husband poison her coffee.

"It constituted 5 to 10 seconds of observation from a distance of 3m when she was in a distressed state," he said.

Justice Harrison said that while he did not want to criticise what Mrs Wright had said in court, he would have had to warn the jury to treat what she said with "extreme care".

He was satisfied Mr Wright had not confessed to the crime, as his wife had alleged.

In court, a former Institute of Environmental Science and Research forensic scientist, Leena Stowell, said traces of compounds from the polyester catalyst were found in a coffee cup and in Mrs Wright's urine.

But Justice Harrison said the evidence was of little assistance. The urine sample had to be discounted because it could have been contaminated and the compound was also found in control samples.

The compound found on the cup could have got there by someone accidentally touching it.

Justice Harrison said it was also significant that Mrs Wright claimed the bottle of catalyst had been full when they bought it, but only a third full when she found it.

Defence evidence showed the bottles leave the manufacturer only one-third full.