Jury discharged in nurse murder trial

Michelle Beets. Photo / Supplied

The jury in the trial of a man accused of murdering New Zealand nurse Michelle Beets in Sydney was discharged yesterday.

Walter Ciaran Marsh, who turned 51 yesterday, had pleaded not guilty to murdering his former boss on the front veranda of her Chatswood home on April 27 last year.

The trial began last week at the Supreme Court but after six days of evidence, Justice Derek Price discharged the jury for legal reasons which have been suppressed.

A new jury is expected to be empanelled tomorrow.

Before the discharge, the jury heard that the former US Marine told his wife "that bitch is gone", and that he had cut her throat.

Samantha Marsh said her husband confessed to her when they met up about 45 minutes after Ms Beets was murdered.

"I was about to kiss him," she told the jury via a CCTV link on Tuesday. "He told me 'not to touch me, I'm dirty'."

Ms Beets, whose throat was slit and who suffered eight stab wounds to her chest, gave him bad job references after his hospital contract was not renewed.

Mrs Marsh, who met her husband in her home country, Vietnam, in 2007, said he had applied unsuccessfully for other jobs.

- AAP, staff reporter