Murder accused 'spoke of elbowing youth'

In an intercepted conversation, murder accused Thomas Tihema Christie talked of elbowing a youth in the face - a youth who was later found dead in Christchurch's Auburn Reserve.

The comment was part of a conversation secretly recorded by police when Christie and his fellow accused Sonny Avon Rehu were left inside a prison van together.

The recording was played to the jury in the High Court at Christchurch today, on the 11th day of the pair's trial on charges of murdering and indecently assaulting Shaun Martin William Philip Finnerty-Gallagher, a 16-year-old social welfare runaway.

The conversation was recorded on February 22, 10 days after the youth's death.

Rehu, 32, and Christie, 26, accused each other of narking and lying in their videotaped statements to the police.

Rehu accused Christie of putting the blame on him from the time he phoned the ambulance about the body in the park in the morning.

They accused two others of picking on the boy all day.

But Christie talked about having told the police he elbowed the boy in the face. Rehu talked about Christie having banged his head on a chair at the park.

Rehu said he did not do anything.

Rehu referred to the youth having died from a broken nose when Christie elbowed him.

"Bro, that was a little one," Christie replied.

Rehu explained that Mr Finnerty-Gallagher had died from his airway being blocked.

The trial is before Justice Graham Panckhurst and a jury. The Crown may close its case tomorrow, after hearing evidence from 56 witnesses.

Further scientific evidence was called today about the analysis of DNA samples taken from the body of Mr Finnerty-Gallagher.

Scientist Johanna Veth said samples taken from his neck and inner thigh gave results that were at such a low level they were "not suitable for meaningful comparison purposes".

She agreed with evidence from another scientist that Rehu could be excluded from the thigh sample if it was accepted that the DNA in the sample came from Mr Finnerty-Gallagher and only one other person.

The neck sample contained DNA from two people besides Mr Finnerty-Gallagher.

She also said DNA could have appeared in each sample as a result of people sharing the same piece of clothing.

A sample taken from near Mr Finnerty-Gallagher's scrotum showed no DNA apart from his own.

ESR toxicologist, Dr Allan Stowell, said that at high levels, alcohol could cause inhibition of the nerves controlling breathing.

Alcohol was a central nervous system depressant which acted like a general anaesthetic.

"Where alcohol is concerned, there is a fine line between anaesthesia and death."

The level of alcohol in 100ml samples taken from the body of Mr Finnerty-Gallagher, showed 267mg in his blood, 286mg in his urine, and 813mg in his stomach contents. The legal driving limit for a person of his age - he was 16 - is 30mg.

Death could result when the blood-alcohol was well over 300mg. It could occur at a lower level where it was combined with other factors such as hypothermia, inhalation of vomit, or some restriction on the airways.

It was believed that the youth might have been unconscious for between one and four hours before his death. During that time alcohol would have been being removed from his body by the normal processes, and the samples also indicated that it was continuing to be absorbed.

It was not possible to make a reliable estimate of the blood-alcohol level at any time before his death, he said.

He acknowledged that when he first looked at the case he could not rule out alcohol as the main or only cause of death.

- NZPA