ALANNAH KERR
Today, at 10.53am local time, considerations in the murder trial of Gable Tostee have resulted in the jury retiring for their second deliberation on the case.
It is believed that Justice Byrne was repeating his summary of the Tostee case early this morning.
Justice Byrne then went into the actual degree of force used by Gable Tostee against Ms Wright and explained to the court the ‘law of self defence’.
Justice Byrne said it seemed Ms Wright had assaulted Tostee more than once but also commented that Ms Wright’s state of mind needed to be taken into account.
Yesterday, the jury had put the verdict on hold and had continued to engage in a long and careful consideration. However, the court reconvened shortly after 4pm regarding four questions from the jurors.
The four questions the jury had sought to further clarify were, 1)Tostee’s age when Warriena Wright, 26, lost her life plunging from the balcony of his 14th floor Gold Coast apartment, 2)To clearly understand what the metal object was that Tostee was holding when he exited his building after the realisation of Ms Wright’s death, 3)Whether Ms Wright’s headspace was in a good place at the time she fell off the balcony, and 4)If the fact that she was heavily intoxicated had played a role in her decision to climb over the balcony.
Finally the jury clarified the terms, ‘causation’, ‘unlawfulness’ and ‘intent’.
Yesterday, Justice Byrne stated that Tostee’s behaviour after Ms Wright’s death was irrelevant to their deliberations.
At 3.24pm today, the judge spoke to the jury about their concerns regarding the fact that they hadn’t been able to reach a verdict and they asked Justice Byrne for advice on how to proceed.
Shortly after this, the jury announced that they were able to reach a verdict, however, Justice Byrne said that they were entitled to take as long as they like, which resulted in further deliberations.
Tostee has pleaded not guilty to both murder and the alternative lesser charge of manslaughter.
Deliberations will continue until tomorrow at 9:30am.
