Jury retires in teenager’s murder trial
The jury retired before 11am to consider its verdict in the trial of teenager Taniela Kotoitoga Daven Tiako Waitokia, charged with the murder of 87-year-old Harold Richardson in his Upper Riccarton home.
Justice Cameron Mander had begun his summing up at 9.23am, and sent the jury out to discuss its verdict on the one charge at 10.55am on the fifth day of the trial in the High Court at Christchurch.
The verdict will be either guilty of murder or manslaughter because 18-year-old Waitokia admits attacking the man with a brandy bottle.
The two knew each other before the August 1, 2015, attack. Richardson would buy stolen goods from Waitokia and his teenage friends, and the trial was told they would use the money to buy synthetic cannabis.
The Crown is urging a verdict of murder, while defence counsel Jonathan Eaton QC has called for a manslaughter verdict, saying that Waitokia had no intention to kill. Ha
Category: Focus
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