A man will stand trial for the murder of Natasha Hayden, 24, at McLaren Falls Park in the Kaimai Ranges in January.
Two community magistrates yesterday found a prima facie case had been established against Michael John Curran, 25, unemployed, despite strong submissions by defence lawyer Paul Mabey, QC, that a reasonable jury could not convict on the Crown's available evidence.
At the end of a two-day depositions hearing in the Tauranga District Court, Curran was remanded to the High Court at Rotorua on July 7 for a trial date to be set.
He pleaded not guilty and remains in custody.
Mr Mabey told magistrates Heather White and Kevin Hurley "the hard reality of this case" was that there was no proof of culpable homicide.
"A lady has died and a man has been charged, but where is the evidence of murder?" he said.
"We don't do justice with guesses."
The pathologist who carried out the autopsy gave the cause of death as asphyxiation and could not rule out Curran's claim that he found Miss Hayden hanging by her own jumper.
None of the evidence presented had anything to do with criminal activity, said Mr Mabey.
"What is there that would justify this man being put on trial for the intentional killing of the deceased?"
He told the magistrates there was not even proof of an assault, had that been the charge laid against Curran.
For the Crown, Greg Hollister-Jones said the case was based on circumstantial evidence. Only two people were there at the time, Curran and Miss Hayden.
Curran had later given three versions of what happened: that she had fallen or slipped; her jersey had come up round her neck and got stuck on a rock; and that she was hanging by her zipped jacket from a power station post.
It was common ground that the cause of death was suffocation, said Mr Hollister-Jones.
There was no evidence of hand marks on her neck but the finding was consistent with an item of clothing or fabric being held across her neck or over her face, stopping breathing.
Murder accused to go on trial
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