Alcohol alone could not have killed a teenager found dead in a Christchurch park last year, says a pathologist.
The view supports the findings of another pathologist, and the Crown's assertion - that the youth died after a heavy drinking session and an apparent beating.
Thomas Tihema Christie, 26, and Sonny Avon Rehu, 32, both unemployed, deny murdering and indecently assaulting 16-year-old Shaun Martin William Philip Finnerty-Gallagher, who was found dead in Upper Riccarton's Auburn Reserve in February 2008.
The pair are on trial in the High Court at Christchurch.
The Crown alleges Mr Finnerty-Gallgher died as a result of "postural asphyxia" when he was left lying in the park, intoxicated and beaten by the men.
Pathologist Martin Sage said he had carried out a peer review of the findings of Jane Vuletic, who performed the post mortem.
He agreed with the general tenor of her findings and supported the mechanism of death being asphyxia.
The cause of death was believed to be "postural asphyxia" secondary to alcohol intoxication and mild head injury.
The brain injury was not serious enough to have killed the youth outright. He was believed to have been unconscious for a period of two to four hours, during which he most likely had insufficient oxygen reaching his brain.
"We know he had a fractured nose which was very likely to obstruct that part of his airway because of swelling and bleeding."
If he was then left lying face down and unconscious, there would be "a clear chain of causation" between the events that rendered him unconscious and his death.
He would have been significantly intoxicated with the measured level of 267mg of alcohol to 100ml of blood. He would be reluctant to accept that alcohol alone was the reason for his death, at that concentration.
The youth also had an injury to his brain, which was more likely to have happened immediately before he collapsed and later died at the park, Dr Sage said.
Cross-examined by Rehu's lawyer Mark Callaghan, Dr Sage said he did not accept that Mr Finnerty-Gallagher had become unconscious simply because of the alcohol he had drunk, but he could not exclude that as a possibility.
He said blood trickles on his face and the pooling of blood in his body indicated that he was lying face down at the time of death or immediately after death, although he was lying on his back when ambulance officer reached him in the morning.
The Crown is closing its case today and defence evidence is due to begin tomorrow morning.
