Gable Tostee trial: Jury continues deliberations

Gable Tostee (Supplied)
Gable Tostee (Supplied)

The jury in the trial of Gable Tostee will continue their deliberations on Tuesday, as they consider the trio of possible verdicts they've been given: murder, manslaughter or no conviction.

Justice John Byrne finished summing up the case on Monday, and the jury retired to consider Tostee's fate.

The 30-year-old is on trial in the Brisbane Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to the murder of New Zealand tourist Warriena Wright, who fell to her death in the early hours of August 8, 2014.

It is not alleged Tostee threw or pushed Ms Wright, but that he intimidated her so greatly she felt the only way to escape was to climb down from the balcony of his 14th floor Surfers Paradise apartment.

The court has heard the 26-year-old attacked Tostee with rocks in his own home, where they had spent the past few hours drinking and having sex after meeting on dating app Tinder.

An audio recording Tostee made on his mobile phone captured sounds of the physical struggle between the pair and Ms Wright's eventual death. The prosecution argues "gurgling noises" consistent with Ms Wright being choked or strangled can be heard on the tape.

To convict Tostee on murder charges, the jury has to agree that he intended to do Ms Wright harm by choking her, and that he influenced her fatal decision to climb the balcony.

For manslaughter, the jury has to accept it was indeed an unlawful killing, but that there was no genuine intent to harm Ms Wright.

The third option is that the jury decides Tostee did not intend to do Ms Wright harm or influence her choice to climb the balcony.  In the event of that happening, Tostee would escape a conviction.

Ahead of the jury retiring, Justice Byrne told them that Tostee's behaviour after Ms Wright's death was not to be considered as evidence of murder, and was instead only included for context.

He also made it clear that Tostee choosing not to give evidence was not an admission of guilt on his part, and that the question of intent was paramount as "no one can look inside the head of the accused".

Newshub.