Jury unable to reach verdict in Tostee trial

Gable Tostee
Gable Tostee
The jury in the murder trial of Gable Tostee has been sent home overnight after struggling to reach a unanimous verdict.

The six men and six women jurors have been deliberating since early yesterday afternoon whether Tostee murdered his New Zealand Tinder date Warriena Wright in August 2014.

They indicated this afternoon they were having difficulties reaching a decision but were told by Brisbane Supreme Court Justice John Byrne to persevere.

They will enter their third day of deliberations tomorrow.

Tostee held his face in his hands late this afternoon as Justice Byrne urged the jury to re-examine the matters of the case and make a further attempt to reach a verdict.

"Experience has shown that juries can often agree if given enough time to consider and discuss the issues," Justice Byrne said.

The instructions came after jury had twice before asked questions of the judge.

In the first instance, the questions included Tostee's age at the time of the alleged offence, if they should consider how drunk Ms Wright was, and the nature of an item in Tostee's hand seen on CCTV footage after she died.

Justice Byrne told the jury they should not consider Tostee's conduct after the alleged offence as part of their reasoning to reach a verdict of murder or manslaughter.

He also said as Tostee's age was not part of the evidence, they must not draw any conclusions from it.

However, the jury is allowed to consider if Ms Wright's state of mind was influenced by alcohol, the court heard.

Later the jury asked the judge two more questions relating to a home owner's right to remove a disorderly person from their apartment.

Tostee is not alleged to have pushed or thrown Ms Wright from his 14th floor balcony but intimidated her so greatly she felt climbing over the railing was the only way to escape from him.

Add a Comment