Jury in Irish tourist bashing case told to keep deliberating
MALCOLM BROWN March 16, 2010 - 1:27PM
from the Sydney morning herald
A jury in the trial of a man who helped bash an Irish tourist to within an inch of his life has been told to continue its deliberations after informing the judge today that it was unable to reach a verdict.
Thomas Isaako, 21, a Bankstown scaffolder, has been charged with the attempted murder of David Keohane in Brooks Street, Coogee, in the early hours of July 9, 2008.
He and another man, Kane Tupuolamoui, were alleged to have beaten Mr Keohane, then 29, so severely that virtually every bone in his face was fractured and he came very close to dying.
The two men, who on the evidence had been drinking and had been smashing car windows with a pole as they walked along the street, made off after allegedly taking Mr Keohane's wallet.
Mr Keohane was found lying in a pool of blood. He was given medical treatment and later returned to Ireland where he spent more than a year in hospital.
Isaako, who volunteered to be interviewed by police, said he and Mr Tupuolamoui, after they had been drinking, decided to "roll" someone.
They had come across Mr Keohane who was returning home with a pizza and attacked him. Isaako had thrown "four or five" punches and Mr Tupuolamoui "eight or nine" and Isaako had asked Mr Tupuolamoui to stop hitting the victim.
In the NSW District Court, Judge Ron Soloman had said in his summing up that the jury had to be satisfied that Isaako had inflicted grievous bodily harm with intent to kill Mr Keohane.
He said there was no direct evidence of intent to kill, so the jury, in order to find Isaako guilty, would have to draw an inference from the established facts, being the number, or force, of the blows.
The judge referred to a submission by Nathan Steel, counsel for Isaako that the jury should draw an inference that Isaako's intent was not to murder Mr Keohane but to rob him.
Judge Soloman said that, if the jury were to find Isaako guilty of attempted murder, it had to be satisfied that the only reasonable inference was that he intended to kill Mr Keohane.
He said that evidence of intoxication could be taken into account in deciding whether Isaako had a specific intent.
If the jury found that Mr Tupuolamoui had formed the intent to kill, the judge said, then Isaako could be found guilty on the grounds that the two had participated in a joint criminal enterprise.
Isaako has already pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated robbery and assault occasioning grievous bodily harm arising from the incident.
Late this morning, the jury handed a note to Judge Soloman stating that it was unable to reach a verdict.
However, Judge Soloman has asked the jury to continue its deliberations.
Police said outside the court that a warrant for Mr Tupuolamoui's arrest was still outstanding.