Invercargill man faces manslaughter charge
Across: 1 Whether, 8 Beeton (Weatherbeaten), 9 Entails, 11 Strainer, 12 Fuses, 14 Opal, 15 Sauterne, 17 Air spray, 18 Star, 20 Bless, 21 Talented, 23 Mongrel, 24 Rigger, 25 Mortise.
Down: 2 Hang up, 3 Travel, 4 Eels, 5 Penalty, 6 At any rate, 7 In arrears, 10 Stratagem, 12 For a start, 13 Sacrilege, 16 Spaniel, 18 Slight, 19 Assess, 22 Dodo. An Invercargill man died about 30 minutes after being allegedly assaulted at a party in the city last year.
Nathan Graeme Hall has been charged with the manslaughter of Chanel Henwood, also known as Chanel Lee Simmonds, on February 10, 2018.
The High Court trial at Invercargill started yesterday before Justice David Gendall and a jury.
In his opening address, Crown lawyer Riki Donnelly said the party up to 11pm could be described as unremarkable.
It was a 30th birthday party, a private function at the Marist Rugby Club rooms, for the defendant’s sister and was mainly attended by friends, family and acquaintances.
Henwood had been invited to the function by Hall’s sister.
Donnelly said witnesses would describe Henwood’s behaviour that night as sleazy, intoxicated, creepy towards women, and – later in the night – staunch.
The trial will focus on an incident that happened near the dance floor after a woman walked off when Henwood had allegedly made a comment to her, and what happened before he went down on the floor, Donnelly said.
The evidence would suggest Henwood had received numerous punches, the court was told.
When paramedics arrived at the club rooms, people were performing CPR, and there was blood on Henwood’s ears and mouth and coming from his nose.
Henwood was transported to Southland Hospital and CPR was undertaken en route but there was no sign of a pulse. He was pronounced dead at 12.30am.
An autopsy found Henwood had received a tear in a major artery in the brain that resulted in sudden blood loss to the brain stem, the court was told.
Hall’s defence in the trial is selfdefence. His lawyer, Roger Eagles, told the court Hall became aware of Henwood when he discovered he had made a rude comment about his partner. Hall then had words with Henwood.
It’s the defence’s case that Hall believed he was being approached by an aggressive and belligerent man affected by liquor and had acted in self-defence, Eagles said.
The Crown is expected to call 30 witnesses. Six were called yesterday.
Many of the questions directed to the witnesses related to how much alcohol they had consumed that evening, if the music was playing at the time of the incident and what the lighting was like.
One witness, Serina Pollard, who was the partner of the defendant, recalled telling Henwood he couldn’t smoke inside, but said she never heard him say anything about her.
Pollard, under cross-examination by defence lawyer Katy Barker, said Hall later told her he had hit Henwood but he had no option.
Another witness recalls seeing a person punch three times in quick succession but could not identify who it was, while another Crown witness, Malcolm Hall, saw the defendant hit Henwood once.
Justice Gendall discharged one juror but said the trial would continue with 11 members.