A man who shot his girlfriend in the head in a Sunshine North home and killed her has been found not guilty of murder, but guilty of her manslaughter.
Family members of Rekiah O’Donnell grimaced and bowed their heads on Wednesday when a Supreme Court jury found Nelson Lai not guilty of murdering the 22-year-old in his parents’ Sunshine North home on October 11, 2013.
But the jury found Lai, 35, guilty of one count of manslaughter. Ms O’Donnell’s family left the court several minutes after the jury was dismissed, while the court was trying to determine a date for Lai’s pre-sentence hearing.
The trial was told Lai subjected Ms O’Donnell to constant abuse, violence and threatening and controlling behaviour throughout their relationship, and that he showed mistrust and suspicion towards her from their first date in 2012.
But Lai told the jury that on the day of the shooting, he and Ms O’Donnell, both ice users, were “kicking back in my room” when he reached behind the bedhead and grabbed a gun he was minding for drug dealers.
He told the court he did not know the gun was loaded and began pulling the trigger, while his girlfriend was next to him.
“I was just pointing it … I wasn’t really looking, I was just putting it in front of me,” he told the jury.
Lai said Ms O’Donnell had been playing poker on her mobile phone and that he was looking at his own phone as well as playing with the gun.
“I was sitting on the bed just randomly pulling the trigger,” he said.
“I mean, I’m not sure how many times because I wasn’t counting it. We were both sitting on the bed at that time, and then she got up to do something …
“Then the gun went off and I heard a thump on the ground, so I crawled over to the edge of my bed and saw her laying there on the floor. I saw her holding her head and I yelled out, ‘f–k’ really loud and probably some other things.
“Next thing I know was my parents standing at my door with the door open.”
Lai said he called triple-0 and that he began performing CPR. Paramedics arrived soon after 9am to find Ms O’Donnell had died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Lai told the jury he loved his girlfriend, but admitted he used to punch and threaten to kill Ms O’Donnell and suspected she was being unfaithful with several different men. But, he claimed, this happened only when he was coming down from drugs.
Among the threats, the jury heard, was a series of Facebook messages Lai sent Ms O’Donnell, including one which said: “You’re a dead dog walking. I’ll make you famous.”
Justice Michael Croucher remanded Lai in custody to return to court at a later date for a pre-sentence hearing.
Outside court, Ms O’Donnell’s mother Kerryn Robertson said she hoped the decision would once again highlight domestic violence.
“Unfortunately it didn’t go our way, but we won’t stop fighting,” she said.
This story first appeared in The Age
