'No justice' for man who fell from flat

SEEKING ANSWERS: Zita Boyd holds a picture of her son Sydney, who died in Christchurch Hospital in 2006, after being pushed down a flight of stairs and through a reinforced window on a Housing New Zealand flat stairwell.

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A Christchurch man who died after being thrown through a staircase window in a block of Riccarton Rd flats has not received justice, his family says.

No-one has been charged with the 2006 death of Sydney George Boyd, but regional coroner Richard McElrea's findings, released in full this weekend, indicated that one or more of Boyd's neighbours – Trent Revell, Todd Selinger or Glenn Green – knew what happened.

All names had previously been suppressed, but the coroner revoked the ruling in his written findings.

Boyd, 66, died in Christchurch Hospital on July 1, 2006, after being pushed down a flight of stairs and through a reinforced window on a Housing New Zealand flat stairwell a week earlier.

The flats at 281 Riccarton Rd have become notorious for crime with allegations of drugs and prostitution and the 2008 murder of Cats Protection League worker Kerry Downey by Ashley Peach in a flat just metres from where Boyd's body was found.

Boyd's family have criticised police, who did not take the chance to interview Boyd before he died in hospital and have since been unable to crack the "closed shop" operating in the flats.

Boyd's younger brother, Kevin Boyd, told The Press yesterday: "They've got their own little township. No-one dares speak out."

The coroner concluded there was a direct link between Boyd's death and his being pushed down a set of stairs between the first and second floors, smashing through a reinforced window and landing on his head outside.

The coroner's findings say that leading up to the incident on May 23, 2006, Boyd had been invited to Green's flat on the third floor of Block C in the housing project.

At the flats he noticed an extension cord stretching from the window of Revell's ground floor flat to a communal laundry that all residents paid the power for.

Boyd unplugged the cord and Revell came out of his flat and followed Boyd up the stairs where they had an argument.

What happened next is unknown, the coroner says.

Revell gave police several different accounts – in an original interview he said he encountered Boyd outside; he later said he was in his flat when the power went out.

Revell said he went back downstairs after the argument and heard a man come out of flat 44, Selinger's flat.

He alleged the man from flat 44 accused Boyd of making trouble and said: "Do you want a go?"

The next thing he saw was Boyd hitting the ground outside the flats, he told police.

Revell was unable to explain how a fragment of glass got into the hat he was wearing that night, according to the coroner's finding.

Revell later told police he had in fact seen who came out of flat 44 and it was "the Canadian guy" – Selinger.

Selinger told police that he had not left his flat that evening. He heard Boyd arguing with the man who lived below him and then heard a big bang and shattering glass.

When he came outside he saw Boyd lying face-down, bleeding profusely.

Revell had claimed he came out after ambulance officers arrived and heard Boyd naming his attacker as the tenant in flat 44.

Selinger said Revell did not come out of his flat at all.

Green told police he heard the arguing but he believed the other person, from his voice, was a "big-set Maori guy".

Green said he had not seen this mystery person.

The coroner said that Green's evidence was unreliable and the way he described the Maori man without seeing him was "implausible".

He accepted Selinger's evidence "with some hesitation".

"I conclude it is unlikely that Mr Selinger was involved in Sydney Boyd falling through the window," he said.

The coroner said he "found it unlikely" that Revell had retreated down the stairs as he had indicated, but, it was possible a third party known to Revell and Green was responsible.

The third-man theory was favoured by Boyd's brother, Kevin, who said a psychic reading commissioned by the family indicated a third person was involved.

Boyd said more witnesses should have been called at the inquest, including the paramedics who attended and workers at the flats who knew the situation.

Boyd said police did not interview his brother when the family worked out a system for Sydney to communicate via notes from his hospital bed.

The officer in charge, Detective Geoffrey Rudduck, told the inquest: "I was always of the opinion Sydney Boyd was going to get better.

"I probably should have gone to see him in ICU, but I didn't. I have had to live with that."

- © Fairfax NZ News