Businessman Shiu Prasad may have left his chest and torso vulnerable to a knife attack as he fought to repel a robber from his South Auckland liquor store, a jury in the High Court at Auckland heard yesterday.
Pathologist Professor Timothy Koelmeyer said Mr Prasad suffered 10 knife wounds and died
from blood loss and shock.
William Samson Holtz, aged 42, is accused of robbing the Liquor Warehouse in Mangere East on August 29, 2000, and murdering Mr Prasad.
Professor Koelmeyer told the jury that two knives were used, indicating that there were two assailants or one robber who re-armed himself during the assault.
The Crown says Holtz acted alone.
Professor Koelmeyer said Mr Prasad suffered none of the classical injuries - cuts to the backs of the hands and arms - of a victim trying to defend himself.
Assuming there was only one assailant with two knives, it was possible Mr Prasad had raised a weapon such as a baton or stick above his head, exposing the left side of his body where most of the stabbing occurred.
A bloody baton was found at the scene.
The professor said the assailant could have been disarmed during the assault and restarted with another knife.
Holtz, whose bloody footprints were found in the store, allegedly told police he went inside after hearing someone crying and was confronted by a knife-wielding robber.
Professor Koelmeyer, cross-examined by defence counsel Murray Gibson, agreed it was possible for an assailant to have left no footprints by stepping over blood, but for an observer who came along later to have stepped in it.
He said Mr Prasad suffered coronary artery disease that might have precipitated death. Two of his major arteries were significantly narrowed.
Even without the stabbing injuries, Mr Prasad could have died from the exertion and emotion of the robbery, said the professor.
At the start of the trial, the Crown Solicitor for Auckland, Simon Moore, told the jury violent offenders had to "take their victims as they found them".
Though a younger, fitter man might have survived, it made no difference in the eyes of the law so long as the stab wounds that caused the loss of blood were a major contributor to Mr Prasad's death.
