An elderly woman has been found not guilty of manslaughter after her husband drowned in the couple's backyard pool in suburban Perth with weights tied around his waist.
Hazel Spenceley was charged with the death of her 80-year-old husband, Peter Spenceley, in December 2016.
In his closing address, prosecutor Simon Freitag SC said the evidence that Mrs Spenceley had admitted pushing her husband into their pool was "overwhelming" and "consistent".
He told the court that on the night of the death, Mrs Spenceley had told several witnesses, including a police officer and a paramedic who both gave evidence, that she pushed him.
Mr Freitag said the state was not suggesting Mrs Spenceley tied the weights, totalling 6 kilograms, on her husband, who could not swim.
But he told the court the "difference between the dry land and the water was Mrs Spenceley pushing him in".
He said the "point of pushing" was where the crime was committed, even though the state accepted Mrs Spenceley "did not intend for her husband to die".
He asked the jury to take a "clinical" and "cold" approach in their deliberations.
Defence claims husband took his own life
But Mrs Spenceley's lawyer Justine Fisher told the court "sometimes we can't know everything", even after a full analysis of the evidence.
Ms Fisher said there was no evidence her client knew about the weights, which other witnesses on the night had not noticed straight away.
She said Mr Spenceley had underlying health issues and wanted to die, and if the jury found he "elected to remain underwater" then Mrs Spenceley would not be responsible for his death.
Ms Fisher said her client was "distressed, crying, frantic, trying to get assistance" on the night her husband died, and if she said the words "I pushed him", it was not literal, but "equivocal".
She said the jury might find the 80-year-old put himself into the water, as there were no "wide walking areas between the fence and the pool".
Ms Fisher also said there was "evidence [that] undisturbed he could swim".
She said the state had not established the weights would have kept Mr Spenceley underwater or prevented him from getting out or moving around the pool, despite the "automatic assumption" that they would.
University of Western Australia biomechanics expert Tim Ackland told the court a person was lighter in the water than out of it, and the way the weights were applied could assist someone in staying upright.
Ms Fisher said if the jury did find that Mrs Spenceley pushed her husband into the pool, there was no way she would know he was electing to take his own life.
She said the results were "unintended, unexpected" and "not necessarily foreseeable".
Ms Fisher said "this couple did in fact love each other", and had made plans to go on a cruise the next day.
