VERDICT STUNS LOVED ONES
A GOLD Coast tradie has been acquitted of the murder of his neighbour following a street fight at Southport almost four years ago.
Nathan Sanchez, 27, pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to the murder of Southport man Kane Barry at the start of his trial on Monday.
The jury yesterday found Sanchez not guilty of murder and manslaughter, accepting he acted in self-defence after Mr Barry attacked him out of the blue.
Mr Barry’s younger brother Travis said he felt his family had been “failed” by the justice system.
“Kane has been portrayed as an aggressive person with tattoos ... I can assure you now that Kane wasn’t that type of person,” he said.
A GOLD Coast tradie has been acquitted of the murder of his neighbour following a street fight at Southport almost four years ago.
Nathan Sanchez, 27, pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Supreme Court to the murder of Southport man Kane Barry at the start of his trial on Monday.
He was accused of killing his 27-year-old neighbour following a fight outside the pair’s Southport unit complex on September 16, 2014.
The jury yesterday found Sanchez not guilty of murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter, accepting he had acted in self-defence after Mr Barry attacked him out of the blue.
During the trial, the court heard Mr Barry died after his life support was turned off at the Gold Coast University Hospital on September 21.
He failed to recover from a brain injury.
During the trial, the jury was shown several police interviews where Sanchez, who was an apprentice builder at the time, explained he was driving into his driveway when Mr Barry came out of nowhere and started abusing him.
“... (I) got out my car ready to go to my house and he ran up to me and said: ‘Oi, what are you looking at?’,” Sanchez told police almost four years ago.
“He was like: ‘Don’t look at me again or I’ll smash you next time’.”
During a formal police interview that was played to the court, Sanchez said he went inside his house, where he had only lived for two months, to get ready for the gym after a day at work.
He said he left the unit with a bag of rubbish and was confronted again by Mr Barry.
“I turned around and he was yelling: ‘Come here’ and I didn’t want to fight with him or anything and he’s like: ‘Come here on the grass’ and he’s started trying to fight with me,” Sanchez told police in 2014.
The court heard Mr Barry’s partner also punched and kicked Sanchez during the scuffle.
He said after the incident Mr Barry remained on the ground and he went around the complex asking people if they saw what happened.
“I really wanted him to get up and he wasn’t getting up...” Sanchez told police.
The court heard Sanchez said to witnesses shortly after the fight that he had choked Mr Barry.
He argued throughout the trial he acted in self-defence.
The jury took less than three hours to consider their verdict.
I TURNED AROUND AND HE WAS YELLING: ‘COME HERE’ AND I DIDN’T WANT TO FIGHT WITH HIM OR ANYTHING ... AND HE’S STARTED TRYING TO FIGHT WITH ME. NATHAN SANCHEZ