No verdict on Christchurch youth killing

A jury will continue deliberating today on verdicts for two men charged with the manslaughter and indecent assault of a 16-year-old social-welfare runaway.

The jury retired about 3pm yesterday after Justice Panckhurst summed up in the High Court in Christchurch in the four-week trial of Thomas Tihema Christie, 26, and Sonny Avon Rehu, 32. Both deny charges of the manslaughter and indecent assault of Shaun Finnerty at Christchurch's Auburn Reserve last February.

The jury had to consider whether the Crown had shown the injuries inflicted on Finnerty in the park were "substantial and operative" enough to cause the teenager's death, the judge said.

"The chain of causation is not greatly in dispute," he said. "Everyone agreed Shaun died of asphyxia because he got into a bad position that obstructed his airway.

"Ordinarily, you or I would right our position, but he could not because he was profoundly unconscious at the time."

Medical experts said there were two causes of Finnerty's unconsciousness. One was intoxication, with Finnerty's blood-alcohol level of 267 milligrams of alcohol to 100 millilitres of blood nine times over the legal driving limit for people under the age of 20 years. The other was a brain injury.

The Crown had to prove that the brain injury was the substantial cause of death, although intoxication played a part, the judge said.

"The Crown says this was either a joint attack, where the two accused acted together in concert, or it was a situation where Thomas Christie was the principal party and Sonny Rehu, at the very least, was intentionally assisting or encouraging the commission of the assault by Christie," he said.

"The Crown doesn't shrink from the fact alcohol was at play, but you should accept the evidence from pathologists the brain injury played a substantial part.

"Shaun received quite a beating."

The Crown urged the jury to not only look at the "ifs, buts and maybes" given in evidence by pathologists. The defence had placed greater emphasis on the evidence from the pathologists, the judge said.

Defence counsel for both accused said alcohol poisoning caused Finnerty's death.

Although at the lower end, Finnerty's blood-alcohol reading was within the lethal range, the judge said.

Both defence lawyers also raised the possibility that Finnerty's brain injury could have been inflicted earlier in the day.

Finnerty had been seen stumbling along the road and had gone into a coffee shop slurring his words and being aggressive to staff, asking if he looked drunk and if they knew where "his bros" were.

He had also been seen sitting on the ground at Liquor King after being caught stealing alcohol, raising the possibility he had been injured in the bottle store car park, the judge said.

- © Fairfax NZ News