In the Loop podcast: Did Piopio father-son duo really need to chop off the fingertip?

William Burr emerges from the High Court at Hamilton after being cleared on all charges relating to a home invasion at his Piopio home. Photo / NZME

This week a jury found a Piopio father and son not guilty of an attack in which the tip of a teen burglar's little finger was chopped off.

William "Bill" Burr and son Shaun were found not guilty on all charges by a jury on Wednesday afternoon.

In this episode of In the Loop journalists Katie Harris and Cheree Kinnear discuss the case, the ruling and whether the fingertip removal was really necessary.

The pair were found not guilty on charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, or wounding with intent to injure in the alternative, in relation to attacking the boy with a stick as he lay on the floor.

They also faced a charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm or maiming with intent to injure after chopping off the tip of the boy's little finger.

Burr snr faced extra charges of assaulting a woman, for kicking the teen girl in the head on the floor and injuring with intent to injure for allegedly stomping on the back of the boy as he lay on the floor.

Also on the show, the journalists discuss congestion charging, the latest supermarket conglomerate to announce price reductions on some products and Netflix looking at adding ads.

'What happened during the knife incident?'

For the past six days, the jury has heard detailed accounts about what is alleged to have happened inside the Napinapi Rd home.

King Country farmer William Burr, known as Bill, had three times been the victim of the burglar - each time he broke into Burr's home to get the keys for his car from his Te Mapara home on separate occasions.

This time, fuelled with Cody's bourbon and cannabis, the 17-year-old took his then-girlfriend - both of whom have name suppression due to their age at the time - to Burr's house in the early hours.

The teen had been bailed to an Auckland property on charges from a burglary of Burr's home the week before and was driven down by his girlfriend's cousins.

The pair went into Burr snr's bedroom after being unable to find the keys elsewhere in the house.

There, the teen girl hit him over the head; she would say once, he says twice, and a fight erupted lasting about eight minutes.

Burr snr managed to turn the light on and said he'd give up and hand over the keys, which he told the boy were on top of the microwave.

He sat exhausted on the end of the bed, naked, next to the teen girl. He told her he was going to put on some clothes and she left.

He testified that it was then he grabbed his shotgun from his en suite, marched down the hallway, and pointed it at the pair as they stood in the kitchen.

They both immediately dropped to the floor and Burr snr said he set about calling various people, including 111, his son, his neighbour, and Constable Tony Schrafft of the local police.

Shaun Burr arrived and it was then he set about striking the teen, on instruction from his father, as he believed he was trying to get up off the ground.

Burr jnr struck him with one "beautiful" punch, he said, which sent the teenager to the floor.

Burr snr says the teen lashed out and tried to stand many times as the older man held a knife which he feared would be turned back on to him and his son.

Annoyed that the teenager kept getting up, Burr snr says he warned the youth that if he didn't show his left hand he would cut it off.

With the youth still refusing to put both hands out in front of him, the older man asked Burr jnr to cut the teen and he made a small cut to the youth's finger.

The boy still refused to show his hands and it's then that Burr snr instructed his son to chop the fingertip off - which Burr jnr did.

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