Police investigating the death of babies Chris and Cru Kahui had a far more substantial case against the twins' mother but chose to ignore it, focusing on their father instead, a jury was told today.
Defence lawyer Lorraine Smith made the comments in her closing address in the murder trial of Kahui at the High Court in Auckland today.
The three-month-old twins' father Chris Kahui has denied murdering them in June 2006.
Simon Moore QC finished the crown's closing address late this morning after a day and a half on his feet.
Mrs Smith told the jury, in front of a packed public gallery, the crown case was made up of very thin strands of circumstantial evidence against Kahui and that there was a far more substantial case of circumstantial evidence against the twins' Macsyna King.
The defence had not gone out of their way to blacken Ms King's name, nor they had invented any of the evidence against Ms King, given her history of abandoning several of her children and her drug use, she said.
The defence had not manufactured the evidence of medical experts either, she said.
"The crown advanced a theory which is simply not capable of withstanding proof beyond reasonable doubt," Mrs Smith said.
As the trial had progressed what was most evident was how strongly the evidence pointed to Ms King, she said.
Police chose to focus their investigation on Kahui based on an early medical opinion by Dr Patrick Kelly, ignoring Ms King.
Mrs Smith will continue her closing speech this afternoon.
