Appeal bid in spa death fails

A Christchurch engineer who hid the clothes of a young American polo player after she overdosed in his spa pool and died has failed to have his conviction overturned.

Earlier this year, Joseph Douglas McGirr was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment on charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice and cultivating cannabis.

This came after 22-year-old Lauren Biddle died in the spa pool at McGirr’s Christchurch home on October 22, 2018, after she took an overdose of ecstasy.

After Biddle’s death, McGirr was charged with supplying a class B controlled drug to her, but a jury found him not guilty of this charge.

He was, however, convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice after he frantically cleaned the house before police arrived.

McGirr put the lid back on the spa, threw away bottles and cans, and pulled cannabis plants from pots and threw them into the overgrowth in front of the house. He also took Biddle’s clothes and bag and buried them.

McGirr was jailed after a judge said he did not think a sentence of home detention was appropriate, but his sentence was later commuted to a non-custodial sentence at a rehabilitation facility.

He appealed his conviction on the grounds that a miscarriage of justice had occurred during his trial when the judge misdirected the jury as to the grounds for conviction. In a series of questions, the judge asked the jury to consider whether they were sure that at the time McGirr concealed Biddle’s clothing, he knew ‘‘that a police investigation into Ms Biddle’s death was either under way, or inevitable’’.

McGirr’s lawyer argued that because a police investigation does not in itself form part of ‘‘the course of justice’’, the question trail should have referred to ‘‘judicial proceedings’’ rather than a police investigation.

The Court of Appeal accepted that a police investigation into possible offences does not form part of the course of justice. However, it was apparent from the jury’s verdict that they did not accept McGirr’s explanation that he buried Biddle’s clothes in an effort to ‘‘commemorate’’ her, it said.

‘‘We are not satisfied there was any material misdirection which could be viewed as resulting in a miscarriage of justice.’’