Jury out in domestic abuse trial
A man accused of strangling and throwing hot water on his partner has been steadfast in his denials of the serious domestic abuse allegations.
On Tuesday, Quaid Darryl Clement finished giving evidence in his defence against charges of assault with intent to injure, disfiguring with intent to injure, breaching a protection order and common assault, which are alleged to have taken place in New Plymouth on September 11, 2017.
Clement previously pleaded not guilty to the charges and had been on trial in the New Plymouth District Court since Monday. A jury of eight women and four men is now considering its verdicts in the case, after closing addresses were delivered by the prosecution and defence.
On day one of the trial, the complainant gave evidence for the prosecution and said she had argued with Clement, her partner of 13 years, over cigarettes. After she went for a shower, the woman said he strangled her for a short time, before throwing recently boiled water at her while her back was turned.
She was later diagnosed with splash burns on her neck and upper back, after being seen by a doctor.
The Crown also alleged Clement had breached a protection order, which was served on him in 2015, by being physically violent towards the complainant and had also assaulted her 14-year-old brother during a confrontation.
During his evidence, and under cross-examination by prosecutor Jacob Bourke, Clement continually denied he had strangled the complainant and maintained the hot water had splashed on the woman by accident.
Clement previously told the jury that as he was making a coffee, the jug slipped out of his hand and bounced against the fridge. The hot water then splashed onto the woman’s back.
In response to Bourke’s questions about why it was the woman’s back which had been injured rather than her bottom half, Clement said the complainant had been bending down to dry herself. In his closing address, Bourke asked the jury to disregard Clement’s ‘‘made up’’ explanation. He said the defendant had intent to injure the complainant because he had been angry about the missing cigarettes.
He said the complainant was credible in her account of what happened and had also provided ‘‘a warts and all’’ account of her relationship with Clement. The court heard how the couple’s relationship had been fraught with separation and drug use. The pair have four children, all of whom are in state care.
‘‘She told us a number of times she still loves the defendant, he’s the father of her children. She going to continue to love him, despite what he did to her,’’ Bourke said.
Defence lawyer Julian Hannam said the complainant’s story had lacked detail and was at times illogical. He also pointed to the behaviour of the complainant after the alleged assaults took place.
The woman admitted she had messaged and called Clement and they also stayed together in the days following the incident.
‘‘Are her efforts to be with him consistent with her story that he strangled her and had boiling water deliberately poured on her?,’’ Hannam put to the jury.
He said Clement’s explanation that the recently boiled jug fell from his grasp was backed up by how ‘‘shocked and sorry’’ he had been after the accident.
Judge Chris Sygrove summed up the case before deliberations began. The jury retired about 5pm and will continue considering its verdicts from 9am on Wednesday.