Found Deceased NEW ZEALAND - Grace Millane, 22, British backpacker, Auckland, 1 Dec 2018 *Arrest* #2

[Tortoise]

10:26am - He recalls a comment from the defence that the accused had no motive. Dickey questions this and shows the jury the intimate photos taken of Millane after her death.

"She was dead… He has eroticsed the death of British backpacker Grace Millane which occurred under his handhold."

Grace Millane murder trial: Live updates as Crown, defence present closing statements

 

[Mariposa]

Grace Millane murder trial: Live updates as Crown, defence present closing statements

He recalls a comment from the defence that the accused had no motive. Dickey questions this and shows the jury the intimate photos taken of Millane after her death.

"She was dead… He has eroticsed the death of British backpacker Grace Millane which occurred under his handhold."

 

[Mariposa]

Sorry Tortoise I posted the same!

 

[Tortoise]

10.09am: A memorandum of agreed facts relating to forensic pathologist Dr Fintan Garavan's evidence was read to the court this morning.

He clarified that it was his opinion a state of unconsciousness due to pressure on a person's neck may result between three to five minutes, while death may occur between five to 10 minutes.

"I did not mean five to 10 minutes to unconsciousness and then a further 10 minutes to death."

Grace Millane murder trial: Jury to hear Crown, defence closing arguments

 

[Tortoise]

'You do not have to plan murder'
10.25pm

Auckland Crown Solicitor Brian Dickey has begun his closing address and says he does not have to prove the accused intended to kill Millane.

"That is wrong," he said. "That is one method, but it is not the only method."

Dickey told the jury that may be the conclusion they come to, but they also could convict him of murder if they found he displayed a reckless intent.


"That he knew what he was doing was causing harm and might cause death," Dickey explained.

"That he was aware of that risk and that he took it."

The prosecutor said the accused gripped Millane's throat for five to 10 minutes, strangling the life out of her.

"At some point in that period the victim would pass through to unconsciousness and you would have to carry on. And you would have to carry on to cause death ... suffocating her, strangling her, for a total of what would be approximately five to 10 minutes."

He said the accused must have felt Millane's "limp and lifeless" body but decided to carry on.

"If that's not reckless murder in this country ladies and gentleman, then someone will have to explain to me what is," Dickey said.

"On that alone you will have to convict him of murder."

Grace Millane murder trial: Jury to hear Crown, defence closing arguments

 

[Tortoise]

2 minutes ago
The other matter, is about strangulation, Crown solicitor Brian Dickey continues.

"The defence's pathologist Doctor Garavan told you, the jury, in his expert view, it in fact takes 5 to 10 minutes to cause death by strangulation.

"Depending on which method is used to strangle, the victim may fall unconscious quickly after a few seconds or a few minutes," he says.

"However, you will have to carry on for 5 to 10 minutes."

This means the defendant, "the gentleman behind me" - Dickey says gesturing to the accused - had to have Grace under his grip, suffocating, strangling her, for a total of approximately 5 to 10 minutes, he says.

"At some point of which she lost consciousness and would have become limp and lifeless - and he would have carried on," he tells the jury.

"And if that isn't reckless murder ladies and gentleman what is? On that alone, you would convict that man of murder."

That is not "sex play", that is not "breath games", that is holding a person's neck and throat for an extended period of time - feeling them struggle and then going limp and into unconsciousness and carrying on, Dickey says.

"The point at which you must consider if he had a murder intent is when he decided to carry on."

Grace Millane murder trial: Crown and defence sum up the case

 

[Tortoise]

Might I suggest I continue with updates from the newshub and someone else posts updates from Stuff and the Herald, so we don't duplicate?

Stuff link Grace Millane murder trial: Crown and defence sum up the case

Herald link Grace Millane murder trial: Jury to hear Crown, defence closing arguments

 

[Tortoise]

(I'll continue until someone takes up the offer)

10.45am

Auckland Crown Solicitor Brian Dickey has attacked the defence's narrative.

"This is not sex play, this is not restricted breath games," he said.

"This is holding a person's neck or throat for an extended period of time, feeling their struggle, as she must have struggled for her life, and you carry on.


"You do not have to plan murder, you do not have to intend murder."

The prosecutor told the jury that after Millane was dead the accused began taking photographs of her naked body.

"We know he has a sexual interest in feet, he took that as well," he said, pointing towards the photos recovered from the accused's phone.

"He took those two of her ... He took that one of her ... And he took those," he continued, flipping through the evidence booklet.

"And she was dead."

Dickey said the accused has "eroticised the death of British backpacker Grace Millane, which occurred under his hand hold and on her birthday".

"He has a morbid sexual interest in a dead woman's [private parts].

"And he has memorialised it for himself ... The ultimate triumph for the defendant over Grace Millane. His trophy photographs."

Dickey said: "Lots of times we don't know why people do criminal acts ... Lots of times people don't tell the truth."

Grace Millane murder trial: Jury to hear Crown, defence closing arguments

 

[Mariposa]

I am confused about something.
It appears the accused is not charged with manslaughter at all here from what I can find online. So the only possible outcomes here are guilty or not guilty of murder, correct?

I think @mrjitty wrote something that if found not guilty on the murder charge he’s still down for manslaughter. Are there any links to news stories that explain this?

When I search Graces name and the word manslaughter online basically all I get is the accused talking about manslaughter and rough sex on his December 2 Tinder date.

 

[Tortoise]

6 minutes ago
Crown solicitor Brian Dickey continues.

"When Grace Millane was dead he took that photo of her - when she was dead," he says in a raised voice.

He then shows the jury the intimate photos the accused took of Grace's body.

Grace's mother Gillian wept as he did so.

"He has eroticised the death of Grace Millane which occurred under his hand.

"He has a morbid sexual interest ... and he has memorialised it. And that is the ultimate triumph of the defendant over Grace Milllane. His trophy photo."

"He has manually manipulated her to take these photographs," he tells the jury, photos in hand.

Dickey shows the jury the intimate photos the accused took of Grace, during his closing address.

Grace Millane murder trial: Crown and defence sum up the case

 

[mrjitty]

Closing statements will be presented on Thursday by the defence and Crown. Justice Simon Moore will then give his summary on Friday before the jury begin their deliberations.

Grace Millane murder trial: Live updates as defence's overseas witnesses stream into court

Thank God for NZ law and judges summing up!

 

[Tortoise]

I am confused about something.
It appears the accused is not charged with manslaughter at all here from what I can find online. So the only possible outcomes here are guilty or not guilty of murder, correct?

I think @mrjitty wrote something that if found not guilty on the murder charge he’s still down for manslaughter. Are there any links to news stories that explain this?

When I search Graces name and the word manslaughter online basically all I get is the accused talking about manslaughter and rough sex on his December 2 Tinder date.

Possibly he's admitted manslaughter so the jury don't have to decide that?

 

[Tortoise]

10:44am - The prosecutor has moved on to the accused's actions after the alleged murder. He notes that the defence has said this shouldn't be given undue weight.

But Dickey disagrees, saying: "It is common sense you would have to look at what he did next".
By looking at what he did next, the jury can reason what happened.

One post-death point Dickey picks up on is the accused not ringing emergency services. He says that would have been the response of most people, but suggests the accused's lack of action shows he didn't care about saving Millane's life.

Grace Millane murder trial: Live updates as Crown, defence present closing statements

 

[Tortoise]

10:47am - The internet history of the accused's phone shows searches for the Waitakere Ranges, the hottest type of fire and *advertiser censored* - in that order. The intimate photos were then taken of Millane's dead body, Dickey says.

The prosecutor mentions that in his police interview, the accused said he and Millane took photos of each other. He suggests that if these photos were the ones taken after the searches for the Waitakere Ranges - where Millane's body would later be found - he may have planned to murder her.

Grace Millane murder trial: Live updates as Crown, defence present closing statements

 

[JG123]

I am confused about something.
It appears the accused is not charged with manslaughter at all here from what I can find online. So the only possible outcomes here are guilty or not guilty of murder, correct?

I think @mrjitty wrote something that if found not guilty on the murder charge he’s still down for manslaughter. Are there any links to news stories that explain this?

When I search Graces name and the word manslaughter online basically all I get is the accused talking about manslaughter and rough sex on his December 2 Tinder date.

You're right, I can't find anything regarding manslaughter either. The only thing I can find regarding the verdict is below:

If the verdict is not guilty, the man charged with Millane's murder will be allowed to leave.

If the verdict is guilty, a date for sentencing will be allocated and he will likely be remanded in custody until then.

If the jury can't reach a unanimous verdict or a majority verdict, Justice Moore may declare a hung jury and there will be a new trial with a new panel of jurors.

 

[Tortoise]

a minute ago
"We are not talking about a body, we are talking about a real person," Crown solicitor Brian Dickey continues.

"If you thought you hurt someone really bad in close quarters, and you have a phone, your first thought must be to call the emergency services," he puts to the jury.

That is the response of a human being in those circumstances, to respect the woman that you know, he says.

"Unless he has a different view on the deceased?"

And the Crown says "he must".

Dialling 111 is the obvious decision, Dickey says, but what does the accused do and how consistent is that with this being a terrible accident?

"We have a CCTV booklet, his phone records and photographs, to show us what he actually does," he says.

The first thing he does at 1.29am, is Google: "Waitakere Ranges". His first response to the emergency is to figure out how to dispose of Grace's body, Dickey says.

At 1.41am, he watches *advertiser censored*. From 1.46am to 1.49am he takes seven intimate photographs of Grace.

"Does that suggest to you he is eroticising Grace Millane on the floor dead? Or does that say to you he is terribly upset about her death?" he asks the jury.

"He has the deceased's body, watches *advertiser censored*, takes photos of her, makes plans of how to get rid of her body and then organises to meet up with another woman.

"Does that sound like a tragic accidental death in that room at CityLife?"

Grace Millane murder trial: Crown and defence sum up the case

 

[DanceCard]

"The Crown doesn't have to prove the defendant intended to kill Grace Millane," he begins.

"I want to make a few points clear at the outset in the hope they might carry through with you. There is more than one method by which a verdict of murder may be returned."

"You may form the view that he didn't intend to kill Grace - and i'll be asking you to consider that very seriously - but in the end, the Crown only has to prove [beyond a reasonable doubt] "reckless intent".

"That is that the defendant knew he was causing harm that might cause death, he was aware of that risk, and he took it, and as a result of taking that risk, death occurred.

"That is reckless intent, conscious risk taking. You can kill someone by conscious risk taking and in this country that is murder," he tells the jury.

"So when I speak of the recklessness of the defendant, if you are satisfied you knew he was doing something that may be likely to cause harm, he appreciated that risk and took it - then he is guilty of murder."

Grace Millane murder trial: Crown and defence to sum up the case

Hopefully some contributors to this thread will read and digest this!

 

[JG123]

I found something on another forum with the definition of murder as per New Zealand law:

Murder, manslaughter, etc
"167 Murder defined
Culpable homicide is murder in each of the following cases:

(a)if the offender means to cause the death of the person killed:
(b)if the offender means to cause to the person killed any bodily injury that is known to the offender to be likely to cause death, and is reckless whether death ensues or not:
(c)if the offender means to cause death, or, being so reckless as aforesaid, means to cause such bodily injury as aforesaid to one person, and by accident or mistake kills another person, though he or she does not mean to hurt the person killed:
(d)if the offender for any unlawful object does an act that he or she knows to be likely to cause death, and thereby kills any person, though he or she may have desired that his or her object should be effected without hurting any one."

So I think it all falls under the same charge?

 

[Tortoise]

10.55am

Auckland Crown Solicitor Brian Dickey told the jury the response of a normal person after an accident is to call 111.

"You know, this is a young woman a long way from home, your response must be to dial emergency services?

"That's the response of the human being in those circumstances."

What the accused did, however, suggests he had a different view of Millane, Dickey said.

"Does it suggest he's killed her and he's okay with that?"

The first thing the accused did, Dickey said, was to Google 'Waitakere Ranges' at 1.29am on December 2.


"He's trying to figure out a way of disposing of her body, that's his first response. Second response is then to look up 'hottest fire' - again to figure out how to dispose her body.

"So that the world will never learn that he has killed this young woman."

About 10 minutes later the accused began viewing *advertiser censored* before taking several photos of Millane between 1.46am and 1.49am.

"If those photographs weren't taken after she died ... Then he planned to kill her," Dickey said.

"Either he planned to kill her and looked for a disposal site or she was dead. There's really no way out of the photographs for the defence."

Dickey said the photos were "powerful, powerful evidence" as to the previous intent of the accused.

After viewing some more *advertiser censored*, the accused's phone goes silent from 2.24am to 6am.

Then, Dickey explains, the accused searches for car hire and "large bags near me".

At 7.05am he searches for rigor mortis.

"He told us he panicked," Dickey said.

"Where to this point is the evidence of panic?"

The accused was "cool, calm and controlled", Dickey said.

At 7.17am the accused searches for the nearest Warehouse, and at 7.51am he messages a Tinder match to check that their date is still on for later in the day.

Grace Millane murder trial: Jury to hear Crown, defence closing arguments

 

[Tortoise]

11:03am - The accused's actions in the days afterwards - including texting another woman to confirm a date - show him to be "cool, calm and controlled", Dickey tells the jury. He says the man showed little panic or concern about what he had done.

One of the searches on the accused's phone on December 2 was for the time in London. Dickey wonders if he did this as he knew it was Millane's birthday and wanted to figure out what time her family would be getting in touch.


The prosecutor says the accused's claim that he wanted to take his own life is a "melodrama". He says there is no evidence of this and the accused was only trying to make himself out to be a "decent human being".

Grace Millane murder trial: Live updates as Crown, defence present closing statements