KEY POINTS:
The jury who will decide the fate of double murder accused Chris Kahui has retired.
Kahui is accused of killing his three-month-old twins - Chris and Cru - in June 2006. The defence case is that someone else, probably the babies' mother, Macsyna King, harmed them earlier.
Justice Geoffrey Venning today addressed the jury of seven men and five women and advised them on points of law and summarised the Crown and defence cases.
Justice Venning told them the twins' deaths and the subsequent trial of Kahui had excited the media.
Jurors were told to set any media reports aside and focus on the evidence of the trial.
Justice Venning said the evidence the jury had heard over the past six weeks, which included more than 1300 pages of evidence and more than 60 witnesses, would inevitably cause strong feelings.
Jurors may be sickened and saddened by the evidence and that the twins' parents did not protect them, he said.
"You may feel angry that vulnerable children were treated that way."
Jurors may feel prejudice towards the twins mother Macsyna King and sympathy for Kahui, he said.
It was important all those emotions were put aside and to focus on the evidence, he said.
"There is no easy formula to assist you for the task you have."
The jury will now have a lunch break before deliberating at the Auckland High Court this afternoon.
Earlier this morning his defence lawyer Lorraine Smith said Kahui was described as quiet, gentle and "a good father who never smacked".
Mrs Smith told jurors Kahui was heard making "brmm, brmm" noises with his son Shane, shortly before the Crown alleges the twins received their fatal injuries.
"Can it really be seriously suggested that he was playing cars with Shane before going and bashing his twins," Mrs Smith said.
She said Kahui was not violent despite having provocation after being hit by the twins' mother Ms King.
Mrs Smith went on to say that the witness Eru Tuari had nothing to gain from going to police and reporting that he had heard a confession from Ms King.
Mr Tuari, an ex-boyfriend of Ms King, told the jury earlier in the trial that he came across her crying in her bedroom.
He said Ms KIng told him: "I did it. Chris didn't do it."
"He has nothing to gain by coming forward, It makes no sense," Mrs Smith said.
She also read from a transcript in a police interview in which Kahui said it could have been Ms King who killed the twins.
"It is quite clear he had his suspicions but he didn't know what happened," Mrs Smith said.
He also told police that: "I never hit my kids before. I never hit my sons".
Mrs Smith ended her summing-up with another quote from Kahui after he was asked by police who had hurt his sons.
"I don't know. I don't, I don't. I can't even picture it."
Mrs Smith asked the jury: "Isn't that a comment that each one of you can relate to?"
She said the defence maintains that there is not enough evidence to produce a guilty verdict beyond reasonable doubt.
"He is not the person who assaulted his sons. He is not guilty," Mrs Smith said.
The trial has run into its sixth week and jury members will have 1390 pages of evidence to consider.
- With NZPA
