Gold Coast man Gable Tostee not guilty of murder nor manslaughter of Tinder date Warriena Wright
GOLD Coast man Gable Tostee has been found not guilty of the murder or manslaughter of Tinder date Warriena Wright after she plunged to her death from his Surfers Paradise balcony.
Crime and Court
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crime and Court. Followed categories will be added to My News.
GOLD Coast man Gable Tostee has been found not guilty of the murder nor manslaughter of Tinder date Warriena Wright.
A jury of six men and six women this afternoon gave their verdict in the Brisbane Supreme Court after four days of deliberation.
The court heard the verdict at 3.25pm in front of a packed gallery that included Tostee’s mother and father, and friends and family of Ms Wright.
Outside court Detective Inspector Damien Hansen said Ms Wright’s death would now be referred to the Queensland Coroner.
Victim liaison worker Deb Taylor read a statement from Ms Wright’s family who pleaded to be left alone by the Australian and New Zealand media.
Prior to the delivery of the verdict the defence made an application to dismiss the jury after one juror had been posting about her service in Instagram.
The application was dismissed but in closing Justice John Byrne slammed the use of social media by the juror saying it was “disappointing.”
EARLIER: JUDGE TELLS JURORS TO FOCUS ON TOSTEE’S ACTIONS
The 30-year-old Gold Coast carpet layer was charged over the murder of Ms Wright, a New Zealand tourist after she fell to her death from his Surfers Paradise apartment in August 2014.
Ms Wright plunged 14 floors to her death on August 8, 2014, after having drunken sex with Tostee.
He pleaded not guilty to killing the 26-year-old.
The jury found Ms Wright acted irrationally and disproportionately on the night she died by climbing over Tostee’s balcony after a physical altercation between the pair.
They agreed with defence barrister Saul Holt QC that Tostee was acting in self defence when he restrained Ms Wright and was entitled to remove Ms Wright from his home by putting her on the balcony because she was acting in a disorderly manner.
Gable Tostee leaves court to applause from passers by. @GCBulletin pic.twitter.com/KszUmlNnHO
— Alexandria Utting (@alexutting) October 20, 2016
They also found Tostee was entitled to do these acts to prevent Ms Wright continuing to assault him after she threw ornamental rocks at him and hit him with a telescope clamp.
They agreed with Mr Holt that Tostee could not have foreseen Ms Wright would climb to her death and that her actions in doing so were erratic and done by a woman who was “massively drunk”.
Throughout the case, crown prosecutor Glen Cash QC argued Tostee intimidated Ms Wright during a physical altercation and by putting her out on his balcony and locking the door behind her.
He said he did not intend for her to die, but an ordinary person in the circumstances should have foreseen Ms Wright would attempt to climb from the balcony.
The jury did not agree with the prosecution argument.
Ms Wright had a blood-alcohol level about three times the legal limit to drive at the time of her death.
She met Tostee on the dating app Tinder on August 1, while in Australia to attend a friends wedding.
The pair met in person in the evening of August 7 in Cavill Ave before going back to Tostee’s unit in the Avalon Apartments.
In Queensland, the alternate verdict of manslaughter is available to juries if they find a person is responsible for another’s death, but did not intend to cause them grievous bodily harm.
However, the jury also acquitted Tostee of this charge.
Audio of Ms Wright’s final moments was played to the court during the trial where the New Zealand tourist is heard screaming ‘no, no, no’ 33 times.
She also pleads for him to “please let me go home”.
“I would, but you’ve been a bad girl,” his voice echoes across the courtroom from the audio recording before he locks the balcony door.
After she fell to her death, Tostee later left his apartment, bought pizza and called his father to pick him up, telling him he had a “bit of a situation”.
Tostee’s defence barrister Saul Holt QC described the man’s actions toward Warriena Wright as “gentlemanly”.
In his summing up, Mr Holt argued Tostee and Ms Wright were on a “first date that went horribly wrong”.
He described Ms Wright’s death as a “tragedy”.
Mr Holt told the jury once the pair arrived at Tostee’s Surfers Paradise apartment the 26-year-old New Zealand tourist became “increasingly erratic” and hit Tostee with several metal rocks.
Mr Holt argued Tostee put Ms Wright on the balcony she eventually climbed over and fell from to defuse the situation.
Before deliberations began, Justice Byrne warned the jury not to draw an inference of guilt from the fact Tostee fled his apartment complex through the basement, phoned his lawyer, wandered around Surfers and ordered pizza in the hour after Ms Wright fell to her death.
EARLIER: JUDGE TELLS JURY TO ‘KEEP TRYING’
Ms Wright was on a two-week holiday to attend a friend’s wedding and met Tostee at the end of her trip.
Tostee was arrested at his parents’ house and charged with murder the following week.
Tostee was represented by high-profile barrister Saul Holt QC, who was instructed by Fisher Dore Lawyers.
Crown prosecutor Glen Cash QC led the prosecution case.
Vicious public assault ‘could not be stopped’
A man who "couldn't be stopped" when he grabbed his partner by the hair and dragged her 100m through a Gold Coast shopping centre car park has now faced court over two dozen charges.
‘I’m not going to promise you anything’
A mother facing a string of drug offences was perhaps too honest with a magistrate yesterday after she initially couldn’t guarantee being on her best behaviour.