Man who beat wife to death has murder conviction quashed on appeal

A TENNANT Creek man convicted of murder after bashing his wife to death with a brick has had his guilty verdict overturned on appeal on the basis he was too drunk to realise he was killing her.

A Tennant Creek man convicted of murder after bashing his wife to death with a brick has had his guilty verdict overturned on appeal on the basis he was too drunk to realise he was killing her.

A TENNANT Creek man convicted of murder after bashing his wife to death with a brick has had his guilty verdict overturned on appeal on the basis he was too drunk to realise he was killing her.

Baden Flash, 34 at the time of the offence, was found guilty of killing his wife, Kwementyaya Foster, in July 2018.

Flash slammed part of a concrete brick against Ms Foster’s head multiple times in the bedroom of their Tennant Creek home in January 2017.

The court heard Flash then left the 33-year-old in the room for up to 12 hours before seeking medical assistance.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment, as is mandatory in the NT for murder convictions, with 20-year non-parole period.

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Baden’s barrister, Jon Tippett QC, launched an appeal on his client’s behalf in January, arguing his client was so intoxicated that it could not be proven Flash had the “specific intent” to kill Ms Foster.

“He did not act in a state of mind that amounted to murder. He acted in a state of mind that amounted to manslaughter,” Mr Tippett said.

Appeal Justices Southwood, Kelly and Chief Justice Grant handed down their decision on Friday, allowing the appeal and quashing the guilty verdict.

The Justices said the trial judge “had not adequately explained to the jury how intoxication was relevant to the issue of intent”.

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“The trial judge in this case … did not direct them (the jury) that if they found that the appellant was intoxicated, an inference of an intent to kill or cause grievous harm might not be so readily drawn from the nature and extent of the injuries as it might be if he were sober,” the Judgement said.

Flash will be retried on a date to be set.