Joshua Trevor Berrigan charged with unlawful striking causing death

A lengthy delay is expected in the case of a young father accused of causing another man’s death in an early morning one punch incident, with pathology reports outstanding.

Joshua Trevor Berrigan, 23, has been charged with unlawful striking causing death.

Statements and other material are still outstanding in the case against a young father accused of throwing a punch that caused another man’s death.

Joshua Trevor Berrigan, 23, has been remanded in custody on a charge of unlawful striking causing death following an incident last year, which resulted in the death of Nathan Isaac McPherson, 43, the following day.

Mr McPherson died in the Royal Brisbane Hospital on Sunday, August 20, following the alleged altercation near the intersection of Kent and Richmond streets in Maryborough about 2.30am on Saturday, August 19.

The court heard an adjournment was sought until the final statements for the brief of evidence were able to be provided by the police.

A request for an eight-week adjournment was made as the final statements were pathology statements which “could take quite a while”.

Nathan McPherson died on August 20 last year.

Magistrate John Milburn said he was reluctant to grant such a lengthy adjournment.

“The defendant’s in custody and the brief was required by January,” he said.

“I appreciate the difficulty faced by prosecution when seeking material of a medical nature but the delays are a great concern, aren’t they?”

The court heard there were a number of other matters in the jurisdiction with pathology reports still outstanding.

“It’s a long time for someone to be languishing,” Mr Milburn said.

Mr Milburn said the risk was that if material could not be produced in a timely fashion, the matter would have to progress on the material that was available.

“Perhaps that is something that may be conveyed to the parties concerned.”

The matter was adjourned until March 26.

In May last year it was revealed the state government-run DNA testing lab was dealing with a backlog of more than 10,000 cases as well as needing to test thousands of historical cases after the Commission of Inquiry, leading to delays in cases across the state.

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Originally published as Joshua Trevor Berrigan charged with unlawful striking causing death