Lance Hall, pictured in the dock, has alleged he was attacked by a group including Jason McNae, inset, and acted in self-defence. Photo / NZME
Lance Hall, pictured in the dock, has alleged he was attacked by a group including Jason McNae, inset, and acted in self-defence. Photo / NZME
Defence counsel in the case of a fatal stabbing has suggested that the victim’s heart disease may have played a role in his death while also implying that bruising to the murder accused’s body was evidence he had been assaulted.
Lance Hall, 51, has been on trial for almost two weeks in the High Court at Whangārei for the alleged murder of Jason McNae on June 19 last year at a block of flats in Whangārei.
Hall had been briefly living in a flat with Cody Rudolph when the arrangement began to sour.
Rudolph gave evidence last week that he had two aggressive incidents with Hall before the stabbing and on the evening of McNae’s death, an argument escalated over an access card to the building.
Rudolph called his ex-partner, Courtney Rapata, for a cousin’s phone number. When her new partner, McNae, heard he needed help, he said: “We need to help him”.
McNae, Rapata and two others arrived at the building where they allegedly found Hall jumping around in a heightened state.
The Crown claimed that McNae, Rapata and another person they were with went upstairs to check on Rudolph and Hall followed them.
It is alleged that he then turned and stabbed McNae, who was behind him at the time, in the neck.
The incident and the moment McNae collapsed and died were captured on CCTV and have now become key evidence to the trial.
It is the defence’s case that Hall was acting in self-defence. In an evidential interview earlier played to the jury, he said the group had attacked him while he was lying on the ground in a foetal position.
He said where he was lying was an area not captured by CCTV.
Jason McNae died after allegedly being stabbed.
The day after the alleged murder, police took Hall to White Cross Medical Centre and photos were taken of bruising across his abdomen.
The doctor who saw Hall testified that she had seen the bruising and that Hall had stated he had been involved in an altercation the night before.
When defence lawyer Ron Mansfield KC produced photos of alleged bruising to Hall’s head, the doctor maintained she could not be certain the discolouration on his head was bruising and that her notes did not record he had bruising to his head.
On Tuesday, pathologist Dr Kilak Kesha gave evidence of the injuries McNae sustained which led to his death.
Kesha said McNae had two stab wounds to the left side of his neck with one being larger than the other.
He confirmed the wound was 6.5cm deep, and went through a jugular vein and into the fifth bone of the neck.
Under cross-examination, Mansfield produced the photos from White Cross and asked Kesha whether he could determine when the bruises had occurred given there was a yellow discolouration.
“As I understand, it’s not possible to accurately determine the age of bruises on external examination and there is tremendous variation in rate of healing?” Mansfield asked.
“Yes,” Kesha responded.
“It’s thought the presence of the colour yellow is a reliable indication the bruise is not recent but beyond that, it’s difficult to determine?” Mansfield queried.
“There is an 18-hour timing that bruises would go yellow from 18 hours,” Kesha verified.
“It could be less or could be more?” Mansfield asked.
Mansfield asked Kesha whether it was possible the bruising had occurred around 5pm on the day of the alleged murder to which Kesha responded: “It’s possible.”
Mansfield also put to Kesha that it was possible McNae could have survived if he did not have heart disease, which expedited his death, and received immediate medical attention.
Kesha had earlier testified that even without the disease McNae would have died.
But Mansfield asked: “With immediate medical attention, it doesn’t have to be fatal?”
“So if it’s on the neck, pressure has to be applied immediately and within minutes,” Kesha said.
“It’s hard to know, whether or not he could have survived without the absence of heart disease?” Mansfield asked.
“Yes,” Kesha responded.
The Crown is expected to finish calling evidence today.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.
