Woman cleared over publican's death

File photo / NZ Herald

A Buller woman walked free from the High Court at Greymouth yesterday having been found not guilty of the manslaughter of Little Wanganui Hotel publican David James White.

The jury found Carmel Helen Whittle, 38, had assaulted Mr White, 42, on July 3 last year but Justice Fogarty convicted and discharged her on that count.

The jury retired at 2.30pm and returned their verdict at 8.30pm.

Whittle's relatives hugged in the back of the courtroom as the verdicts were read, and there were tears among Mr White's supporters.

In the Crown's closing address yesterday, the jury was told Whittle had delivered "an unlucky punch" but luck was irrelevant to the case.

The Crown had to prove that someone had been killed and that the death was the result of an unlawful act (assault).

Crown prosecutor Phil Shamy said common threads in the evidence were that Whittle and Mr White were arguing, Whittle was facing Mr White when she delivered at least one blow to the left of his head and she intended to hit him.

The Crown contended that although Whittle did not intend to cause White any harm she hit him, causing his head to pivot and rupture an artery to the brain, leading to his death.

Defence counsel Pip Hall said Whittle had not committed manslaughter.

"There are other reasonable possibilities and they have extreme relevance in this case."

No witnesses saw a punch to the left side of the head, where the bruising was found, and there was a possibility Mr White, who had been drinking heavily, was overweight and had high blood pressure, collapsed because of a faint, and then hit furniture as he fell.

He had bruising all over his body but there was no way to time the bruising.

Mr Hall said it had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt that the crucial bruise on the left jaw was caused by Whittle.

In his summing up, Justice Fogarty told the jury that they had to consider that if there was an assault, that the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the accused struck the deceased at least once, intentionally, with any degree of force.

If they decided an assault had occurred they had then to go on to consider if the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt that a reasonable and sober person would have realised in all the circumstances that the assault was capable of causing more than trivial harm.

"If you are not sure the assault was capable of such harm you should acquit the accused of manslaughter and she remains guilty of assault."

He said the pathologists acknowledged that arterial tears could potentially occur in a range of circumstances and the jury had to decide if the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt that the injury in this case was caused by the assault or if there were a reasonable possibility that the artery was damaged by some other impact and not a direct consequence of a "dangerous" assault by Whittle.

She intends to return to her home at Little Wanganui on the West Coast.

But Joe Beveridge, a close friend of White's, told The Press newspaper the town did not want her to return.

"We are all gob-smacked she got off scot-free," he said.

Outside court Whittle's brother, David Whittle, welcomed the verdict, but said he was amazed charges had been laid in the first place.

The incident had been "blown out of proportion".

- NZPA