No clear view of fight

Some crown witnesses in a manslaughter trial in Invercargill say they never saw the alleged assault of Chanel Henwood in its entirety.

Nathan Graeme Hall has been charged with the manslaughter of Chanel Henwood, also known as Chanel Lee Simmonds, on February 10, last year. The High Court trial started on Monday before Justice David Gendall and a jury.

The defence case is that Hall acted in self-defence.

Yesterday morning, at least four crown witnesses acknowledged they either did not see what prompted an incident between Hall and Henwood (their view was obscured at times), or they had not paid full attention to the incident, which has been described in court earlier in the week as lasting seconds.

Crown witness Renee Blake said she saw Henwood put down a beer bottle near the fireplace of the Marist Rugby Club, where the private function was being held, before he allegedly said the words ‘‘Let’s go’’ and walked forward towards someone. At the end of her evidence, Justice Gendall asked Blake if she saw punches being thrown by both Hall and Henwood, and she replied: ‘‘yes’’.

Simon Pollard said he saw Hall throw a punch at Henwood, but said he did not watch the incident in full because he had turned away to talk to friends before turning to look back Hall and Henwood again. Pollard said he had about 10 beers before he arrived at the party about 11pm.

Jacye Fisher said he had been at a table near where the incident happened, and he had intervened to take Hall away from Henwood. Fisher told the court he did not see what happened before Hall and Henwood were suddenly very close to each other. He told the court he did not hear what the men might have said, and did not know what caused the fight.

He saw Hall throw a punch at Henwood and it appeared the men were clutching at each other’s clothing before Henwood started to go backwards to the floor. Fisher said he put an arm around Hall’s midsection and pulled him back saying words to the effect of ‘‘it’s enough’’.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Roger Eagles, Fisher said he would have intervened in any situation like that, and that he did not use force to get Hall to back away.

Eagles questioned if Fisher could tell if subsequent blows connected with Henwood, and he replied he could not be sure.

Fisher said while he had consumed between eight to 10 beers before arriving, later in the evening, on a scale of 1 to 10 of intoxication he was a five or six.

Henwood was taken to Southland Hospital and CPR was performed en route but there was no sign of a pulse. He was pronounced dead at 12.30am.

An autopsy found Henwood had a tear in a major artery in the brain that resulted in sudden blood loss to the brain stem, the court was told on the first day of the trial, which is set down for five days and is expected to end on Friday.