Harry Clements Matchitt is on trial for murder in the High Court at Tauranga. Photo / George Novak
Harry Clements Matchitt is on trial for murder in the High Court at Tauranga. Photo / George Novak
"I probably went there and pushed him over or kicked him ... I'm not going to lie."
Those were the words Harry Clements Matchitt told police in an interview two years after Brian Albert Hilton, 77, died after being assaulted in his Ōpōtiki home.
Matchitt, 52, is on trial in the High Court at Tauranga for murdering Hilton on July 7, 2016. The Crown says Hilton died after he was punched, stomped and kicked in the attack.
It will be the defence's case that it wasn't Matchitt who assaulted Hilton and therefore he couldn't be guilty of his murder.
The trial started today, nearly five years after Hilton died.
In his opening address, Crown prosecutor Oliver Salt said Hilton was found on the floor of his lounge on the morning of July 8 by a friend. Hilton had serious face and chest injuries.
He was flown by rescue helicopter to Tauranga Hospital but died from a chest infection four days later. Medical experts will say in the trial his death was directly related to the injuries he suffered.
Salt said the Crown would produce evidence from CCTV footage from nearby businesses that showed Matchitt went to Hilton's Ford St house on the night of July 7.
Salt said it was the Crown's case that Matchitt was intoxicated and for whatever reason inflicted injuries on Hilton.
"During the assault, he struck him in the head and face, which caused unconsciousness which led to a fatal chest infection that caused his death."
Salt said both men lived in Ōpōtiki and they were known to each other. They would sometime socialise together and drink alcohol.
It was the Crown's case that Matchitt inflicted blows to Hilton's face, scalp, neck and chest. He suffered complex facial injuries to his eye sockets and jaw. He also suffered a trauma to the brain which led to him becoming unconscious.
Later in hospital, he suffered from acute bronchopneumonia, which was the primary cause of death.
Salt said neighbours would tell the jury they heard banging coming from Hilton's house on the night the Crown said he was murdered.
Salt said when Matchitt was first interviewed by police in September 2016, he denied at first he would drink with Hilton but then admitted he last saw him about a week earlier.
When told there was DNA evidence found on a beer bottle at the house belonging to Matchitt, he acknowledged he had had a few beers but couldn't remember when.
When police told Matchitt in the interview there was CCTV footage showing a man of his stature entering and leaving Hilton's house, he said he didn't want to comment any further.
Salt said the police's investigation continued and Matchitt was interviewed again two years later in September 2018. In this interview, he acknowledged the man in the CCTV footage could have been him.
He was interviewed for a third time on December 12, 2018, and Matchitt appeared emotionally distressed, Salt told the jury.
In this interview, Matchitt said he didn't know why it happened, that he couldn't clearly remember but he probably went there and pushed him over or kicked him.
"I probably did assault him. I can't remember clearly what happened," Salt said Matchitt said in the interview.
Matchitt then said: "I'm not going to lie. Just give me the charge and I will face the charge."
The jury will hear from experts in forensic imaging and medical experts.
In a brief opening address, defence lawyer Caitlin Gentleman said it wasn't Matchitt who assaulted Hilton.
