Drinkers raise toast as publican

As their friend and publican was lying dead in the bar of the Little Wanganui Hotel last July, patrons broke out a bottle of rum to “toast his honour,” a High Court jury heard in Greymouth today.
The publican, David James White, 42, died of a brain haemorrhage that the Crown contends was caused by a slap from Carmel Helen Whittle, 38, who lived opposite the pub.
Whittle faces a charge of manslaughter.
An autopsy revealed an artery in his neck had burst, starving the brain of blood and oxygen.
Both parties had been drinking prior to the incident. Mr White’s blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit for drivers.
The barman, Liam Kelly, said the two had been arguing, when he saw Whittle deliver a “roundhouse swing” which he thought connected near Mr White’s chin. It was not a forceful blow — more of a slap than a punch — and it did not seem to affect Mr White, who walked to a bar table and leaned on it for a minute or two.
However, he soon had a weird look on his face as if he was staring fixedly at something before he collapsed, taking two bar stools to the floor with him.
Kelly rang 111 and helped as patrons tried to follow the directions of the person at the control centre to administer CPR.
Under cross-examination, Kelly agreed that Mr White and several other men had been playing a macho bar game, ‘leg of lamb’ which involved trying to stay staunch and not flinch while another delivered a blow to the torso.
Mr White’s face or neck had not hit the stools as he fell but the barman could not say if they had come in contact with the edge of the table in the fall.
Alana Ford, a friend, had been partying with a group of women and the accused at Karamea, when Whittle got a call from her 14-year-old son, who was concerned because his four-year-old brother, who he was babysitting, was not in bed.
Ford and the accused drove to Whittle’s home and then walked across to the pub after finding out the boy had wandered over and been put to bed there. Whittle headed straight for the sleeping quarters, followed by an angry Mr White.
“He looked pissed off.”
When they emerged, Ford heard Whittle say, “I’m sick of you and this shit,” smacking him on either side of the head.
Mr White went to a leaner and propped himself against it before putting his head in his hands and slumping to the floor, hitting his head on the bar or a table as he fell, she said.
The witness tried CPR but could not get air into him because his throat was choked with vomit.
After the emergency services left, those remaining in the bar broke out the rum but Ford went to Whittle’s to spend the night. She did not tell her until the following morning that Mr White was dead.
Whittle could not remember hitting him and was devastated by the news of his death, requiring medical assistance herself.
Samuel Langford said he introduced the ‘leg of lamb’ smacking game but he got the worst of it because he was the only one knocked down.
Mr White had been unaffected when he was struck, he said.
He recalled Whittle “swinging wildly” and at least one blow striking the publican above the shoulders.
He denied being so drunk that his recall was blurred, but admitted partaking in the rum after the emergency services had left and fetching from his car a cask of red wine, which he also drank from.
His memory was affected, “not by alcohol but by trauma,” Langford told the court.
(Proceeding)