Acquitted Rotorua man: I've lost everything

Rotorua's Aaron Peddle walked free from the High Court at Rotorua after being found not guilty of attempted murder and other charges.

The 31-year-old was on trial this week after pleading not guilty to trying to murder long-time family friend James Sturt and another man, Scott McGregor, last April 5.

Mr Peddle had also pleaded not guilty to an alternative charge of injuring them with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and a charge of threatening to assault Mr Sturt with a weapon.

The jury deliberated for 30 minutes yesterday morning before finding Mr Peddle not guilty of all three charges.

The Crown case was that there was an argument between Mr Peddle and Mr Sturt, and Mr Peddle rammed his car into the car being driven by Mr McGregor, in which Mr Sturt was a passenger.

However, Mr Peddle said he never intended to kill or harm anyone and was trying to protect himself.

Outside the court, Mr Peddle told The Daily Post he was relieved and he could finally get on with his life.

The verdict came back late in the morning and Mr Peddle said he had a premonition earlier in the day that he would be having a drink of Guinness by lunchtime and that was exactly what he planned to do.

Mr Peddle said he had not had much faith in the justice system before the trial but was "pretty stoked" about being found not guilty.

As a result of being charged, he had lost everything including the custody of his son.

He said he would be re-evaluating his life now and look to complete a Certificate in Social Services which he had started at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.

Mr Peddle's father, Graham Peddle, sat in court throughout the trial and broke down after hearing the jury had found his son not guilty.

Graham Peddle said waiting for the verdict had made yesterday the hardest day of his life.

"Our family at long last is back together as one ... It has been such an ordeal. I want to thank everybody that has been helping us get through that."