A man who killed his best mate’s son by driving over him on a property near Holbrook is closer to knowing if he faces jail.
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That comes with a District Court jury in Albury beginning deliberations on whether Anthony Craig Cromb, 54, is guilty of manslaughter.
Both his defence and the Crown accept the accused breached a duty of care to Troy Wetmore.
But they have differed on whether this was such a serious breach that Cromb, 54, should be held criminally liable for his actions.
The jury will continue its deliberations on Thursday.
Mr Wetmore was killed instantly soon after Cromb confronted him when he stopped in the driveway of George Wetmore’s property on the Culcairn road near Holbrook on April 8 last year.
Cromb is from St James but lived in a caravan on the Holbrook property, 4km out of town, each Monday to Friday for work.
He and George Wetmore were inside the house watching television when Troy Wetmore arrived back at the property in Cromb’s ute.
“The Crown says that when he went out and approached the vehicle he was livid,” prosecutor Max Pincott said.
Cromb had just seen Mr Wetmore crash his utility – the Ford Ranger was taken without his permission – into a white guide post as he tried to enter the driveway.
He opened the door then “whacked” Mr Wetmore a couple of times to the face. He then dragged him out onto the ground.
Cromb got into the utility and drove along the driveway to park the vehicle under a carport behind the house.
But he did not know Mr Wetmore’s head and right shoulder were under the back, driver’s side wheel.
Mr Pincott said it was this decision to drive away that constituted the criminal negligence required for a manslaughter conviction.
“We know (Cromb) didn’t look, we know he didn’t check,” he said.
Mr Pincott said Cromb would have known that Mr Wetmore “was in close proximity” to the utility.
“Why didn’t he check?”
Defence barrister Brad Hughes, SC, said Cromb was devastated by what happened. “He doesn’t say he threw (Troy Wetmore) under the car,” he told the jury.