KEY POINTS:
A jury have not yet reached a verdict into the death of a 15-year-old tagger after deliberating for almost 11 hours, on the fourth day of a High Court trial in Auckland.
The jury left the courtroom at 11.30am today, and were still deliberating up until 10pm, when they retired for the night. They are expected to return to their discussions at 9am tomorrow.
Businessman Bruce Emery, 50, is accused of murdering Pihema Clifford Cameron, after he found him tagging in Manurewa, south Auckland, on January 26 and chased him with a knife.
The court heard that Pihema Cameron had been out with a 16-year-old relative with several spray cans which they used to tag properties near Pihema Cameron's home in Mahia Road, Manurewa.
The jury of four men and eight women heard that Emery chased the boys along Mahia Road and used a knife to kill Pihema Cameron.
They were given a statement detailing the definition of homicide, culpable homicide and the elements of manslaughter, elements of murder, self-defence and provocation.
Summing up the evidence to the jury this morning, Justice Hugh Williams said one of the key issues in this case was intent.
"The Crown must prove that the homicide was blameworthy. Culpable homicide is the killing of another person by an unlawful act. The application of force must be intentional, not accidental.
"To prove Mr Emery is guilty of murder, the Crown must prove beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Emery meant to cause Mr Cameron any bodily injury that was known to Mr Emery to be likely to cause Mr Cameron's death.
"It is accepted by the defence that Mrs Emery and the children were never in peril. Defence of another does not apply in this case," Justice Williams said.
He said the defence of provocation should be excluded if the Crown had proved beyond reasonable doubt that Emery was not deprived of his power of self-control either by anything said or done by Pihema Cameron or his friend.
- NZPA
