No evidence offered at assault trial
An Ashburton man has been cleared of wrongdoing in an assault which left an elderly man with a broken ankle.
Cameron Roger Leahy, 27, had denied a charge of injuring with intent to injure and was scheduled to defend the charge before a jury and Judge Joanna Maze in the Timaru District Court yesterday.
But the charge was dismissed when Crown prosecutor Andrew McRae offered no evidence.
The dismissal came after police officers had to escort Leahy from Ashburton to Timaru, Judge Maze having issued an arrest warrant because the defendant failed to appear at the courthouse in the morning.
Defence lawyer Paul Norcross said he had spoken to Leahy over the phone, and was told the defendant had ‘‘no way of getting here [Timaru]’’.
The warrant was issued about 10.30am and Leahy appeared about two hours later.
The charges were connected to a February 7, 2019 incident in which his brother, 28-year-old Daniel Joseph Patrick Leahy, was later jailed for 23 months after admitting a charge of injuring with intent to injure.
The elderly victim was attacked at his home address in Ashburton with police saying at Daniel Leahy’s sentencing in January that the brothers had arrived at the address to confront the victim’s son, their brother-inlaw, about his domestic issues with their sister.
In the incident that followed, the victim suffered a broken right ankle as well as facial bruising and swelling to the left side of his face.