A New Zealand man who punched another motorist who fell into the path of an oncoming garbage truck on a busy Queensland motorway has been found guilty of unlawful striking causing death.
Tamate Henry Heke pleaded not guilty to manslaughter as well as the alternative charge of unlawful striking causing death during his trial in the Supreme Court in Brisbane.
Shane Merrigan, 50, died when he fell under the wheels of a truck on the Gateway Motorway at Eight Mile Plains in December 2015.
Heke argued he was acting in self defence.
It took jurors three and a half hours to reach a unanimous decision.
They found him not guilty of manslaughter but guilty of the unlawful striking causing death.
He will be sentenced tomorrow.
Shane Merrigan's wife, Jennifer, fought back tears as she read a victim impact statement to court.
"You left us with the worst possible nightmare," she said.
"I have to fight with myself to get up because my children need me.
"It tears us up into a million pieces.
"Life was simple before that day, we had so many plans for the future, a future I now do not have."
She said Shane loved fishing, surfing and camping and would dance with her in the kitchen.
"You took away my dreams and replaced them with nightmares," she said.
"You have taken my whole world away.
"No punishment will ever be sufficient for the horror you inflicted."
Barbara Merrigan, Shane's mother, said he worked hard for his family.
"It hurts too much to think about the memories of him," she said.
"Trying to sleep at night is always the hardest part … there is nothing to stop distract me from thinking about him."
"The tears don't stop."
