Tue 7 Jul 2009 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Ambach trial Day 10 4.45PM: The jury in the trial of Ferdinand Ambach, charged with the murder of elderly gay Onehunga man Ronald Brown, will shortly break for the evening without yet reaching a verdict. The nine women and three men began their deliberations at midday today and minutes ago asked Justice Helen Winkelmann for a video copy of the full three hour police interview conducted with Ambach just hours after he was arrested in the early hours of December 8, 2007, and Brown had been rushed to hospital dying of his injuries. Justice Winkelmann says the jury room will be set up with video equipment so the jury can reconvene at 9.30 tomorrow morning to watch the interview "in their own time" and "on their own terms." 12 NOON: The jury in the Ambach trial has just retired to consider their verdict after being instructed to put aside any personal feelings for the defendant and his victim, and not to guess or infer matters which had not been given in evidence over the past nine days. Auckand's High Court Hungarian tourist Ferdinand Ambach has been on trial for the murder of Ronald Brown in Onehunga in December 2007. The charge carries a minimum sentence of 10 years imprisonment. It is alleged that Ambach's brutal attack on Brown, an elderly gay man who died two days later without regaining consciousness, and the subsequent trashing of his home, stemmed from two sexual advances Brown made to Ambach after the pair had been drinking. Justice Helen Winkelmann this morning asked the jury to put aside any sympathy for the late Ronald Brown and for Ambach who is far from his home; also any anger or distaste for any people in this case, or their lifestyles. "You may have views about homosexuality and that Mr Brown had chosen to keep his homosexuality secret from family and friends, but there is nothing blameworthy in that behaviour... you must also put aside any views about ethnic background," she said. Justice Winkelmann addressed the inference of rape or attempted rape, a new interpretation raised in the defence closing address yesterday. She reminded the jury that the semen stains had been dealt with briefly in prior evidence and were characterised as normal for the clothing and bedclothes of an adult male. She pointed out that the only items significantly soiled by fecal matter were Brown's underwear. Justice Winkelmann also reminded the jury that Ambach had been asked by a police doctor if he had been sexually assaulted and had said "no", and that he had been checked for injuries, including his buttocks, and nothing except his cut finger had been found. She also said that Ambach's sleveless top had not been found to be tested for Brown's blood and that there was so much of the Ambach's own blood, from his cut finger, on Ambach's trousers that detection of any of Brown's blood would have been difficult. "There is no clear narrative which explains all the evidence seen," Justice Winkelmann told the jury of three men and nine women who must now deliver a unanimous verdict, "but it's important not to guess or infer what happened."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 7th July 2009 - 12:00pm