CHRISTCHURCH The jury in the New Zealand retrial of Zimbabwean George Gwaze, who is accused of the rape and murder of his 10-year-old niece, failed to reach a verdict on Friday.
They were sent home for the weekend and told to return today. Justice Christine French summed up the case on the 20th day of the retrial of the 60-year-old Zimbabwean veterinarian accused of killing Charlene Makaza in January 2007.
Justice French accepted the jury of seven men and five women in the High Court at Christchurch had heard and seen some very distressing evidence over the last four weeks.
She urged them to consider the evidence dispassionately and to reach a calm decision. But after almost six hours of deliberations, the jury asked to retire for the weekend. They were sent home to resume their considerations at 9:30am today. Not even the 5,2 magnitude earthquake that rocked Christchurch in the afternoon stopped the jury from deliberating.
Defence counsel Jonathan Eaton had asked Justice French for the jury to return on Saturday, but the jury expressed a desire to take the weekend off. Gwaze denies one count of murder and two charges of sexual violation of HIV-positive Charlene.
Prosecutors allege that Charlene, who had HIV, was sexually attacked and suffocated by her uncle. But the defence claimed she had HIV which she had carried since birth, and that was what killed her.
Justice French told the jury that both sides were critical of each others expert medical witnesses, with prosecutors arguing that hospital experts had the distinct advantage of being on the spot when a dying Charlene was brought to them.
She reminded them of prosecutor Brent Stanaways point in his closing address that all six expert Crown witnesses said Charlenes injuries were caused by blunt force trauma. Even the defence witnesses could not exclude that possibility, he said.
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Stanaway told the jury that Charlene was sexually assaulted by Gwaze and during the attack he stopped her breathing and she died of asphyxiation.
He added that although Gwaze was an urbane and intelligent man, and the crime appeared to lack motive, the Crown did not have to prove why he did it, only that he did.
But the defence said their witnesses were independent of emotion, came to the case with fresh eyes, and were the only ones with true experience in HIV cases
Justice French said the jury could take inference from the evidence, as long as they were reasonable and logical. Gwazes lawyer earlier told the jury the Crown case was so bizarre, illogical, and inexplicable, he said, that there had to be another explanation and that was HIV.
He suggested the Crown and its experts had closed their minds and were not interested in exploring alternatives for Charlenes injuries. Justice French concluded by asking the jury whether the Crown has proved guilt, or whether they had been left with reasonable doubt.
