KEY POINTS:
A man accused of killing his terminally ill mother by giving her a huge overdose of morphine will not now face a murder trial.
He will instead be charged with the lesser count of attempted murder.
The man's lawyer said it was only the second time in New
Zealand legal history that a murder trial had been thrown out at the depositions stage.
The 49-year-old man, who has name suppression, was at his mother's death bed in February when he allegedly used a syringe to administer a day's worth of anti-anxiety drugs and morphine in to his 77-year-old mother's bloodstream.
She died a short time later, but was terminally ill with advanced cancer of the stomach.
The man will go on trial at the High Court in Hamilton in November.
Justice of the peace Jeanette Ogg said at a depositions hearing in Taumarunui the decision to throw out the murder charge was based on a pathologist's report which stated the cause of death to be "advanced intra abdominal malignancy, with morphine a possible contributing factor".
Outside the court one of the man's two sisters said she was delighted with the outcome, and that the family stood by the accused. "It's a victory in some regards."
Defence lawyer Roger Laybourn said he thought it was only the second time in New Zealand history that a murder charge had been thrown out at depositions.
The only precedent was a private prosecution brought against Constable Keith Abbott, the Taranaki police officer accused of shooting Stephen Wallace in Waitara in 2000. The wiping of the murder charge by the JPs can be appealed by the crown prosecutor, or it can be re-laid.
But the man has been committed for jury callover at the High Court in Hamilton on November 11 on the attempted murder charge.
Video evidence yesterday was referred to by crown prosecutor Jacinda Foster. In it the accused had told a detective on the day after his mother's death he felt guilty about giving her a large dose of drugs.
He said he "felt like a criminal".
The man and his two sisters had that morning witnessed their mother in significant distress while there was a delay in getting a prescription to increase her dose of morphine.
The key argument during yesterday's hearing was whether enough proof existed that the drugs were a cause of death.
Mrs Foster said an overdose was dispensed from the syringe and the son's intention was "unequivocal".
Shortly before this he had approached a nurse to see if death could be speeded up and was told that to do so was illegal.
In the police video he had stated that he went looking for the matron and asked her how many presses of a button (that manually drove the automated syringe) would be needed to "sort of finish her off".
Mr Laybourn said the cause of death concluded by the pathologist was "advanced malignancy" with "possible contribution by morphine".
On the issue of intent, other factors had to be taken in to consideration. One was a recommendation by police the man be seen by a psychiatric unit.
"There is a fine line between a son seeing his mother in obvious distress and wanting to end her pain, or life."
