“I'm troubled about that.”The defendant arrived home after a night out drinking with colleagues to find his partner intoxicated. The woman told the court at trial that she remembered slapping the man, then blacked out. “Her evidence can only be described as unreliable,” Judge Phillips said. There was no way he could account for how she received the facial bruising, the defendant told the court. Judge Phillips said the prosecution had to prove there was an intention by the defendant to exercise control over the rifle, and it had not.

Source: Otago Daily Times August 17, 2020 22:07 UTC