5PM Update: The jury is heading home for the night and will resume deliberating at 10AM tomorrow. Hayden Miles The jury has retired to consider whether Gavin Gosnell is guilty of the murder or manslaughter of gay teenager Hayden Miles. Gosnell has pleaded not guilty to murdering 15-year-old Miles at a Christchurch flat on 22 August, 2011. The teenager’s body was dismembered and put in two cemetery plots and a backyard after his death. His family thought he was missing, and appealed to the GLBT community for help finding him, before his remains were discovered in December 2011. Justice Chisholm has instructed the jury not to take into consideration the fact Gosnell has already pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to a human body, when deciding if he’s guilty of murder. He said the jury must deliver a murder verdict if they find either; Gosnell intended to kill Hayden, or Gosnell intended to cause Hayden bodily injury, and he knew the injury was likely to cause Hayden's death, but was willing to run the risk. The Crown told the court today that the only rational conclusion is that when Gosnell attacked Miles he did so with murderous intent. Crown lawyer Barnaby Hawes described the assault as "sadistic and ferocious", and "a form of torture". Defence lawyer Craig Ruane said the jury should find Gavin Gosnell guilty, but guilty of manslaughter, not of murder.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 15th April 2013 - 2:18pm