Ambach trial Day 5 Interviewed by police just hours after the deadly assault on elderly gay man Ronald Brown, Ferdinand Ambach suggested that he may have pushed Brown, and that the elderly man fell over, perhaps down the stairs. Ferdinand Ambach (NZ Herald photo) Police had, in the early hours of December 8, 2007, found Brown battered, bloody and barely clinging to life in the stairwell of his trashed Onehunga home while an agitated Ambach was upstairs throwing furniture through the windows. Ambach, 32, a Hungarian tourist who had been in New Zealand one month, was charged with murder after life support was withdrawn from Brown, who died two days later. The High Court jury today (Friday) watched an hour of video footage showing Ambach in a police interview room the morning after he was found in Brown's house. Speaking through an interpreter, Ambach said it was Brown’s idea to go back to his house, "for TV and music." He said Brown put a hand on his leg while they were sitting opposite each other. "I protested against it and immediately knew what was happening. I pushed his hand away. 'Why?' he asked. ‘Let's have another drink,’ I said. I pretended it never happened." "He asked me to come upstairs and have a drink,” Ambach told the interviewing officer. “I thought 'how do I get to Onehunga and what do I do next?' I was a little bit afraid. I didn't have enough money for a taxi... I just wanted to leave and get home." Asked what happened next, Ambach replied: "You can ask Mr. Brown.” The officer explained that Brown in surgery, with lacerations on his head and other serious injuries. “We need to hear from you, what happened when you were in the house?" The jury watched the courtroom screen as Ambach lowered his head. "I don't know,” he said through his interpreter, “I have flashes." A few minutes later he said: "He went upstairs, and called down for me to come up. The light went out and it was total darkness. It was dark, I was drunk, and there's a man… I don't know what he wants with me... after that I remember nothing." Police: "How do you think Mr. Brown got his injuries?" Ambach: "I don't know." After a short time Ambach told the officer: “He chased me around the table upstairs." Ambach remembered “throwing things” and stated “I don't know what happened, honestly, I never hurt anybody." The policeman pointed out that a pile of large household items had been thrown onto the stairs, to which Ambach responded: "I barricaded myself just like in the war." Police: “Why?” Ambach: "Because he wanted to catch me..." Police: “What did you think?” Ambach: "That he will rape me." The policeman pointed out that Ambach was young and fit, whereas Brown was elderly, overweight and slower. "I was very, very drunk," Ambach explained. A little later on, Ambach revealed more. "There was a point when I could not get away from him, when he touched my penis. I thought it was a friendly hug before then. It all happened after that. It was no longer a friendly situation... He said 'relax, it's a natural thing.'" Ambach said Brown had reached down and placed his hand on his - Ambach's - crotch for around a second, to which he had responded "Not normal… Please don’t. Something like that. He said 'relax, relax... After that he was chasing me. That's when it happened. The whole thing. I'm not sure exactly." Police: "How did Mr. Brown get hurt?" Ambach: "Maybe I threw things at him… and hit him… we fought. He fell over." Police: "He had a lot of injuries from falling over on carpet." Later, when the police officer and interpreter returned to the interview room, they told Ambach that Brown had only a 30 per cent chance of surviving, that he was undergoing a second round of surgery. "He will die?" Ambach reacted. "I will be a murderer, or what?" "He may die," replied the officer. "Dear God," Ambach moaned, putting his head on the desk. "It's not true. I didn't do anything for anyone to die. I don't understand." Police: "What would Mr. Brown say if he recovered?" Ambach: "Maybe he'd fill in the blanks. I don't know what he'd say. If the injury is serious, it's that he fell on the stairs." The police officer again pointed out that Brown's injuries were more serious than the result of a fall down some carpeted stairs. "How did it happen?” asked Ambach, still speaking through an interpreter. “What do you think? All I might have done is push him away, but I didn't beat him up." Asked if the two men had had any sexual activity with each other that night, Ambach replied firmly: "No." Police: "You need to think really hard and rack your brain about what happened last night, because Mr. Brown is very ill." In court the interviewing police officer was asked by the defence if Ambach had been offered a sexual assault examination. The police officer said he was but that he had declined. He did, however, consent to having a sample taken from under his fingernails for forensic testing. The defence asked the police officer if Ambach had appeared tired and exhausted on the morning of the video interview. The officer responded: "I did not perceive that he was tired. He looked frustrated and a little bit confused, but awake." The trial continues next week.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Saturday, 27th June 2009 - 2:42pm