An Adelaide man has been found not guilty of manslaughter after punching a fellow pub patron in the head, fatally tearing an artery in a scuffle that lasted less than four seconds.
In a verdict handed down in the South Australian District Court on Tuesday, Judge Liesl Chapman said it had been proved beyond reasonable doubt that the punch by Lachlan McCluskey, 21, had caused the death of 46-year-old Julian Irish in June 2019.
But she said the evidence did not establish that the punch was unlawful.
"The prosecution has not excluded the reasonable possibility that the punch was in lawful self-defence," the judge said in the reasons for her verdict.
"I find the accused not guilty of manslaughter."
At the time of the incident, both McCluskey and Mr Irish had been at the Slug 'n' Lettuce Hotel in Adelaide's northern suburbs.
There was no interaction between the pair during the evening but just after midnight, Mr Irish had approached McCluskey outside.
On the prosecution case, there was some conversation and then Mr Irish had stepped forward and "chested" the accused and grabbed his shirt.
Soon after McCluskey punched Mr Irish on the left side of his head near the base of his jaw.
The victim fell to the ground and was later taken by ambulance to hospital where he was confirmed brain dead the same day.
Judge Chapman said she was satisfied that that punch delivered by McCluskey caused the fatal tear to Mr Irish's left vertebral artery which led to the haemorrhage and cardiac arrest.
But she said she could not exclude the reasonable possibility that the accused's act of punching the deceased was proportionate to the threat he genuinely believed to exist.
She said Mr Irish was an older, taller, heavier and intoxicated man and a stranger who had unexpectedly started the physical aggression.
"I cannot exclude the reasonable possibility that the threat the accused genuinely believed to exist was that there was more to come from the deceased," the judge said.
