QLD:Heathcote killer appeals for a retrial

AAP General News (Australia)
12-02-2010
QLD:Heathcote killer appeals for a retrial

By Christine Flatley

BRISBANE, Dec 2 AAP - A man should be retried for the murder of a Brisbane radio announcer
because his conviction was "unsafe", a court has been told.

Tyson Alfred Barden, 23, formerly of Buderim on the Sunshine Coast, was jailed for
life in March for the brutal bashing murder of Brian Heathcote.

A Brisbane Supreme Court jury took just three hours to find him guilty of killing Mr
Heathcote as he walked home from a pub at Nundah on January 21, 2007.

Mr Heathcote, 39, died from asphyxiation caused by serious head injuries from the attack,
during which Barden bashed and kicked him repeatedly.

Barden took his case to the Court of Appeal in Brisbane on Thursday, where his legal
team argued the conviction should be overturned.

Barrister Liz Wilson said the conviction was "unsafe and unsatisfactory" as the trial
judge, Justice Margaret Wilson, had misdirected the jury on the issue of intent.

"The misdirection related to an issue that was of such a fundamental nature to the
trial that we say that the conviction should be quashed and a retrial ordered," she said.

The Court of Appeal has reserved its decision.

AAP cf/crh/goc/was

KEYWORD: BARDEN

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