Tue 23 Jun 2009 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Ambach trial Day 2 In a tense moment during day two of the trial of a Hungarian tourist for the murder of an elderly gay Onehunga man, an employer of the accused recalled him angrily responding "I'll kill you!" to a joking anti-gay comment. Ferdinand Ambach (Photo: NZ Herald/Richard Robinson) Ferdinand Ambach, 32, is charged with murdering Ronald Brown, 69, in December 2007, when Brown was found badly battered and barely clinging to life in his home after neighbours called police to a disturbance. Ambach was still in the house throwing furniture through windows. Brown died two days later after two bouts of emergency surgery. In the Auckland High Court today a man who employed Ambach for two weeks on a building site recalled jokingly saying to the recently arrived Hungarian: "Watch out for the gay people in this country, you'll have to watch your back." The witness says he was taken aback by Ambach's angry reply: "I'll kill you!" Asked directly by the defense if he was lying, the witness replied "No, he said that." The witness also described Ambach as a difficult employee, describing him as "a bit of trouble" in that he used to "sing and yell like crazy" on site and was "not good for business." He described taking Ambach to a dairy on his first day of work and asking him if he wanted anything. Ambach picked out a porn magazine, according to the witness. The Crown produced 23 witnesses today, in a marathon session during which Brown's character, home life and sexuality were covered. A niece said Brown had never married and had no children of his own but was part of a very close extended family. He had cared for his elderly mother for several years. The niece became emotional and was given a moment to compose herself after she described last seeing her uncle just days before the attack, when he attended her eight-year old twin daughters' birthday party. She described Brown as "fun, caring, a loved member of the family." She said he was intelligent, well-travelled and well-read. "He was very special, a good hearted and kindly man." She acknowledged that he liked drinking but was always fun and "never violent." A friend said he and Brown had been close friends for seven years. "He was jovial, keen on a laugh" and the pair met up regularly, up to five times a week." The witness had lived in Brown's home for several months but found their age difference created a strain on their friendship and they had parted as housemates but remained good friends. Highlighting that Brown was a very closeted man, the friend recalled coming home one afternoon to find Brown asleep in a chair with gay porn playing on the TV. He switched off the video and mentioned it to Brown a few days later, telling him it was ok if he was gay, that it wasn't an issue. The witness said Brown denied he was gay and claimed he "had been handed the movie to deliver to someone on Waiheke Island." The Crown prosecutor said yesterday none of Brown's family or close friends had known of his homosexuality. Asked if Brown used recreational drugs, the friend said "no." A sex on site venue owner described Brown as being often drunk and occasionally pestering other customers but never being beligerant. A man who had gone home with Brown once for sex four years ago said Brown was happy, "tiddly" and friendly. He had subsequently seen Brown several times at a gay bar. The court also heard today from staff at the Onehunga bar where Brown and Ambach met up the night of the attack, they said the pair had been jovial. Brown's neighbours gave evidence of hearing a disturbance, describing bangs and crashes, and identified Ambach, who was accompanied in court by an interpreter, as the person they saw trashing Brown's home. Tomorrow the Crown will present ten written statements from witnesses and then move on to forensic evidence which is likely to be a slow and methodic process.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 23rd June 2009 - 8:21pm