The defendant, who has interim name suppression, was this afternoon found not guilty of injuring with reckless regard and assault after the jury returned its unanimous verdicts following four hours of deliberation.
The announcement prompted tears in the public gallery and embraces when the defendant joined them at the back of the courtroom.
The trial, which entered its fourth week in the Dunedin District Court, heard from both the prosecution and defence who delivered their respective closing addresses on Friday.
It was the Crown case that the man was home with the unsettled baby, while the child’s mother was at the gym on July 16 in 2023, and became frustrated, inflicting a squeezing or crushing force.
A few days later, the infant was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with up to a dozen broken ribs and a fractured collarbone.
Counsel Anne Stevens, KC, called the theory her client had been responsible for an attack “total rubbish”.
“There’s no evidence he was tired or at the end of his tether,” she said. “There's nothing out of the ordinary going on here.”
The defendant gave evidence during the third week of the trial, explaining to the jury the events of the day in question.
He said the baby woke shortly after its mother had left the home, so he warmed up a bottle of milk.
The child would not feed and his burping techniques, which he demonstrated from the witness box, were unable to relieve its discomfort.
The defendant told the court he was only frustrated with himself and would never take it out on a baby.
“It just blows my mind. I would never hurt him or put him in a position where he could be hurt," he said.
“That just seems crazy to me.”
The court heard there was no change in the child’s behaviour from that point and the hospital visit only arose when the mother heard or felt a crackling sound in the infant’s back two days later.
Once the fractures were diagnosed, it prompted a series of scans and the files were sent to Auckland's Starship Hospital experts for review.
A string of medical staff involved in the case gave evidence for the prosecution, all arriving at the same conclusion - the bone breaks would have required significant force and were likely the result of trauma.
But experts called by the defence rejected that, raising the possibility the “microscopic” fractures may have been caused at birth - the result of a severe vitamin D deficiency - and been exacerbated over time by the baby’s straining.
Mrs Stevens said that was reinforced by the child’s demeanour which witnesses said was unchanged over the course of its life.
She called the allegations against the sportsman “earth-shattering” and pointed to his conduct in the aftermath as evidence of his innocence.
It was the defendant, she stressed, who had voluntarily and candidly told police, early in their investigation, about the events of July 16.
“If you had a guilty mind, I suggest, you would not draw attention to your frustration,” Mrs Stevens said.
Above all else, she said it was her client’s character that should remain at the forefront of the jury’s mind.
Witnesses had described him as patient, kind and thoughtful; one had described the allegation of violence as “laughable”.
“A suspicion or concern can never equal guilt,” Mrs Stevens said.
The defendant embraced supporters in tears outside court but refused to make any comment about the case.
One friend told waiting media: "thank f***ing god."
