Acquittal in long burglary trial
A jury has found a Canterbury woman not guilty on alternative charges of burglary and receiving stolen property from a neighbouring house at the end of an eight-day Christchurch District Court trial.
The verdicts were given late on Monday after an afternoon of deliberations following the summing up by Judge Alistair Garland.
The woman’s defence team – Pip Hall QC and Bryan Green – had suggested as the trial began on November 28 that she had been “set up” and the Crown allegations made no sense at all.
The incident related to a rural Canterbury cottage where about November 1, 2010, property was stolen and nasty words were painted on the walls, some items, and doors, in fluorescent paint.
Property ended up in the woman’s house next door, but the defence said it made no sense for her to burgle the property, remove useless items and then scatter them through her own property.
The woman had name suppression throughout the trial, and the interim order was continued after the verdicts while Mr Hall filed written submissions urging the judge to make a permanent order. The issue of final suppression has not yet been settled.
Category: Focus
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