Foxy,

Yet more conjecture! Suddenly you have become a mind reader and can tell what the driver thought without him stating it.

Your conjecture may be entirely right, however, the only person that would know it would be the ute driver. Juries can only convict on the evidence before them and even then the defendant is given the benefit of all reasonable doubt.

There is no evidence whatsoever that the driver intended to "punish" the thief, neither is there any evidence whatsoever that the driver directly caused the accident as contrary to your assertion, dirt bikes seldom uncontrollably veer in any direction on a dirt road, otherwise the life expectancy of dirt bike riders would be very short.

Paul,

As the jury came back with a unanimous not guilty of manslaughter, I think it is clear that the prosecution had no case.

Dear Shadow Minister,

I see that there's no point in discussing this
matter any further.

Have a nice day.

cont'd ...

It is not conjecture when a person's actions
speak for themselves. And there is plenty of
evidence on the behaviour of bikes on unsurfaced
roads - especially 70cc motocycles that are being
set upon by two-tonne 4WD's.

As for what the jury found? Unfortunately responding
police vehicles and an ambulance drove over the
tracks left by the two-tonne 4WD Navara, which made
piecing together what happened much more difficult.
In the end, investigators HAD to rely heavily on the
driver's version of events.

You can argue all you want. The fact remains that had
the man not taken the law into his own hands, or if
the local police had done their job in the first place,
rather than advice the man to go look for himself,
had the man not driven so close to the bike rider,
so that he could have had time to stop, there might
have been a different outcome.
And that is not conjecture.

Dear Shadow Minister,

BTW:

The jury's conclusion was based on conjecture.
After all it was formed on the basis of
incomplete information.
They had to take the man's version of events.

Foxy,

Either you struggle with the English language or how the legal system works or both. The job of the prosecutor is to prove to the jury that the defendant is guilty of an offence. The job of the jurors is to determine whether the evidence provided is sufficient to prove the guilt of the defendant.

In this case, the jury came to the unanimous decision that there wasn't enough evidence to convict the ute driver of manslaughter. That is not conjecture but a reasoned decision on the facts available.

Dear Shadow Minister,

CONJECTURE -

Noun -

An opinion or conclusion formed on the basis of incomplete
information.

Verb -

Form an opinion or supposition about (something)
on the basis of incomplete information.

All the jury could do was conjecture with what
they had.