A jury has been told it must set aside feelings of sympathy or prejudice as it considers its verdicts on three inmates charged with the murder of another prisoner.
Justice Gerald Nation told the jury in the High Court at Christchurch they must avoid any prejudice against any of the defendants through possible association with any gang.
They could not be sure that any gang associations existed, he said. “You must not speculate on matters on which you don’t have evidence.”
The issue arose from Crown cross-examination of a prisoner called as a witness by the defence, when he was asked about a hand signal given by one of the defendants. The witness replied that it was a gang sign.
“It is important to put feelings of sympathy and prejudice to one side,” Justice Nation told the jury which finished listening to the summing up at 5pm and was then sent home for the night to begin considering its verdicts at 9am on Friday.
Thursday was the eighth day of the trial at which Steven Betham, 37, Levi Hohepa Reuben, 21, and Akuhatua Tihi, 23, deny the charge of murdering Benton Marni Parata, 41, in a bashing in his cell at Christchurch Men’s Prison in March 2015.
Parata received serious head injuries and died in hospital five days later.
Tihi’s defence counsel Phil Shamy has indicated his client admits assaulting Parata and would plead guilty to manslaughter.
The judge told the jury they had to consider a matter raised in defence submissions about a culture of violence and fighting within the prison. They should consider whether there was any evidential basis for the defendants to suggest that there had been some sort of “agreed fight” that would take place within the cell, which had led to the injuries.
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