A JURY has retired to begin determining the fate of Benjamin Batterham, accused of murder over the death of Richard Slater, who broke into Mr Batterham's home in Hamilton in 2016.
Mr Batterham has faced a two-week trial in Newcastle Supreme Court focusing on the cause of death of Mr Slater, who had a "potentially lethal" level of methamphetamine in his system, pre-existing heart disease and obesity when he was chased, held down and punched in the head after breaking into Mr Batterham's Cleary Street home in the early hours of Easter Saturday, 2016.
The prosecution case is that while he had a legal right to chase and restrain the man who he saw coming out of his young daughter's bedroom, Mr Batterham "went completely over the top" and was "exacting some form of revenge" when he held Mr Slater in a "choke-hold" and ignored his pleas to let him up. In order for the jury to convict him of murder, the prosecution has to prove beyond reasonable doubt that an act perpetrated by Mr Batterham "significantly or substantially contributed" to the death of Mr Slater.
"The accused caused or substantially contributed to the death of Richard Slater by the application of pressure to his neck and downward pressure to his upper body while Richard Slater was in a prone position," Crown prosecutor Wayne Creasey said during his closing address.
While summing up the evidence in the trial on Tuesday, Justice Desmond Fagan outlined to the jury the steps they need to take to reach their verdicts, explaining they must resolve the issue of Mr Slater's cause of death and then, if necessary, consider whether Mr Batterham had the requisite intent to determine whether he is guilty of murder or manslaughter.
In relation to Mr Slater's cause of death, Justice Fagan took the jury through the expert medical evidence; six doctors and professors specialising in toxicology, cardiology and forensic pathology.
Of the experts, Dr Naren Gunja was the only one who opined that asphyxiation had caused Mr Slater's death. While Dr Michael Kennedy, a forensic toxicologist and pharmacologist, discounted the contribution of the "choke-hold" and said it was "highly unlikely" Mr Slater would have died had he not ingested methamphetamine.
The remaining experts could not be certain as to the primary cause of Mr Slater's death.
Justice Fagan said the jury would need to draw inferences from what Mr Batterham said and did to determine his intent during the struggle.
"The question is whether in the presence of about five neighbours... when a triple-zero call had been made, whether you would in those circumstances infer that he was really intending to kill this man," Justice Fagan said.
After completing his summation of the case, Justice Fagan sent the jury out at 1pm on Tuesday to begin deliberating.
They had not reached a verdict by 4pm and will continue their deliberations on Wednesday morning.
