CHARGED with murder over the death of an intruder who broke into his home, Benjamin Batterham didn't think he would survive his first day at Cessnock Correctional Centre.
When he called his family from jail for the first time, Mr Batterham believed he was saying goodbye.
And that was because, even on his first day behind bars, only hours after Richard Slater had broken into his home and the pair had struggled in the street, word had already spread through the maximum security wing at Cessnock jail about who Mr Batterham was and what he was in for.
He was so fearful about his safety on his first day in jail, due to intimidation and threats from other prisoners, that Mr Batterham was rendered unable to speak, according to documents tendered during Mr Batterham's Supreme Court bail application in 2018.
Fortunately for Mr Batterham, the potential dangers to his safety were identified by Corrective Services staff, who classified him as a Special Movement Association Prisoner and kept him in protection.
However, he remained fearful of being moved to another prison, where the same protective measures might not have been maintained.
And so, during the two months he spent on remand before being granted conditional bail, Mr Batterham was highly vigilant about his safety, did not interact with other prisoners and spent 23 hours a day in his cell because he thought that the safest option, an approach that had a deleterious impact on his mental health.
It was a world away from where he was before Mr Slater broke in; drinking and celebrating his birthday with a friend who was visiting from Queensland.
But in the intervening hours a lot had happened.
Mr Slater had broken in, taken items from Mr Batterham's daughter's bedroom and then had been discovered in the hallway.
Mr Slater had fled out of the house with Mr Batterham giving chase.
Mr Batterham had called triple-zero, but then spotted Mr Slater again and sprinted after him, tackling him to the ground, pinning him in a "choke-hold" and repeatedly punching him in the head.
Other neighbours had tried to intervene and Mr Slater had said he couldn't breathe, but Mr Batterham had refused to let him up until the police arrived for fear he would run away.
Then when the police did arrive, Mr Batterham got off Mr Slater and Mr Slater was handcuffed. But it quickly became clear something was not right.
While Mr Slater was in hospital, where he suffered repeated cardiac arrests, Mr Batterham was being granted bail charged with recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm.
But when Mr Slater's condition deteriorated to the point his life support was switched off, Mr Batterham handed himself into Newcastle police station, where he was charged with murder and refused bail. More than three-and-a-half years after Mr Slater broke into Mr Batterham's home and Mr Batterham spent that first day in jail, Mr Batterham was on Wednesday found not guilty of murder and manslaughter over his death.
The jury's verdict means they did not accept Mr Batterham caused or "significantly or substantially" contributed to Mr Slater's death.
