Dane McLennan manslaughter trial: John Durie’s death was ‘unusual’

An expert has told the Supreme Court the victim of an alleged one-punch killing at a Wycheproof Golf Club might have died of natural causes.

John Durie, 59, died after an alleged fight during a gold tournament in his hometown of Wycheproof in August, 2019.

The victim of an alleged one-punch killing at a country golf club might have died of natural causes rather than as a result of a blow to the head, an expert has told the Supreme Court.

John Durie, 56, died amid a boozy confrontation at a pool table at the Wycheproof Golf Club in 2019.

The man accused of killing him with a single punch to the head, electrician Dane McLennan, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

On Tuesday, the third day of McLennan’s trial, forensic pathologist Dr Michael Bourke said he could not rule out a 3mm rupture in an artery in Mr Durie’s head having been a result of a pre-existing medical condition.

Dr Bourke wrote in an email, read in court: “there would appear to be a strong defence of natural disease”.

The trial has heard Mr Durie “fell in a heap” near the pool table when McLennan hit him amid repeated jostling and “horseplay”.

John Durie, 59, died after an alleged fight during a golf tournament in his hometown of Wycheproof in August, 2019.

An autopsy revealed Mr Durie had a blood alcohol of 0.17, more than three times the legal limit for driving, and revealed he died when an artery burst open and flooded the area around his brain with blood.

Dr Bourke said it was a “difficult case” and that he had “never seen” an injury precisely like Mr Durie’s.

He said high blood pressure could cause a major blood vessel in a person’s head to rupture, with often fatal consequences, but said people would normally suffer from serious headaches before they collapsed because the blood vessel would balloon under strain.

He said alcohol had an effect on the blood vessels, and said it might have numbed a headache Mr Durie might have suffered.

The prosecution case is that Mr Durie’s death was caused by a single blow McLennan landed, in an act they allege went beyond drunken play fighting the two had been taking part in during a bar night after the golf club’s annual tournament.

Dane McLennan, now 28, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter.

More medical experts are expected to give evidence in the coming days.

McLennan’s defence lawyer, Geoffrey Stewart, told the jury in his opening address: “It’s an issue as to whether Mr Durie died as a result of the blow to the head, or as a result of … a ruptured aneurysm, unrelated to any physical force.”

The trial, before Justice Lesley Taylor and a jury, continues at the Shepparton Supreme Court.