In an unusual step, Judge Thomas Ingram ordered the reconstruction during the trial of Trevor Lindsey Shanks in the Gore District Court on Thursday.
The 42-year-old was charged with assault after an altercation with the complainant, Craig Abernethy, in the eastern Southland town on October 11.
Judge Ingram said Mr Abernethy was backing his Kenworth truck and trailer into Weka St from Hamilton St about 5pm when he saw Shanks drive past in his ute, do a U-turn and stop nearby.
The men had exchanged abusive text messages after seeing each other out on the road about a month earlier, and Shanks wanted to remonstrate with the complainant.
There was an exchange of "unpleasantries" as the defendant walked over to the truck and climbed on to the top step of its running board, the judge said.
Mr Abernethy claimed Shanks then punched him on the nose through the open window, but the defendant claimed the complainant had lunged forward in an attempt to head-butt him.
As he raised his arm to deflect the blow, he had pushed the complainant’s head away with an open hand.
In doing so he must have made contact with the complainant’s sunglasses, which in turn cut the bridge of the complainant’s nose.
Sceptical a head-butt was possible through the driver’s window, which had a low-slung weather visor attached, Judge Ingram asked Mr Abernethy to fetch his Kenworth transporter so a reconstruction could be carried out.
Half an hour later, in the police station yard next to the courthouse, the judge and other trial participants watched as the defendant and complainant separately showed where they were positioned on the truck.
Back in court, Judge Ingram said Mr Abernethy had initially told police the altercation occurred on the street outside the truck, but changed his account after later finding his sunglasses on the floor of the truck’s cab.
He was satisfied the complainant was genuinely mistaken in his initial recollection, because he was "discombobulated" and his "senses were addled" by the blow to his head.
His confusion also lent weight to the proposition he had been struck by a solid blow.
Were it a civil prosecution where the case had to be proved on the "balance of probabilities", he would have found the defendant guilty, he said.
However, he could not say "beyond reasonable doubt" the defendant’s actions were not in self-defence to an attempted head-butt, and dismissed the charge.
Also before Judge Ingram for sentence on Thursday was:
- Rochelle Kim Glover, 50, of Gore, two charges of assault, July 11, convicted and discharged.
