Lawyers for a Victorian man who ran over his ex-wife have told a jury that he is not guilty of manslaughter because the slain woman "went at him" in a fit of rage, and threw herself at his car.
Glenn Martyn, 57, today appeared in the Supreme Court of Victoria over the death of his former partner, Gayle Potter, in the driveway of her home at Traralgon in 2018.
He is also facing charges of dangerous driving and failing to stop.
Ms Potter died with catastrophic injuries after she was dragged under her former husband's Mitsubishi Pajero, and was found bloodied and battered in her driveway by her partner.
The alarm was raised by Ms Potter's son when she did not come back into the house.
The Supreme Court heard that Ms Potter and Mr Martyn had a fractious relationship, and were in a "heated argument" by the car when the incident happened.
Crown prosecutor Robyn Harper told the jury that Ms Potter was standing at the driver's side window when Mr Martyn drove forward, dragged her under the car and ran over her.
"The accused man then drove away without stopping or rendering assistance," Ms Harper said.
She told the court that after the fatal incident, Mr Martyn was confronted by the son the couple shared, and told him that Ms Potter was "banging" on his side of the car, and that he thought he had only "bumped" her as he drove off.
Ms Harper said that the accused man later texted his daughter and said: "So how is she … when you calm down, you can hear my side."
"You f**king killed her," the daughter responded.
"Don't be stupid," Mr Martyn wrote back.
Defence says Ms Potter threw herself at ex-husband's vehicle
The prosecutor, Ms Harper, urged the jury to find the accused man guilty.
"It was his action of driving in these circumstances that caused Ms Potter to become caught in the rear wheel of the car, to be dragged under the car," she said.
"The prosecution case is that gross negligence can be demonstrated by the accused moving the car forward at all."
But the accused man's defence lawyer, Peter Morrissey SC, told the jury that his client was not criminally negligent at all.
"All he wanted to do was to leave and it was absolutely the right thing to do, to get out of there," Mr Morrissey said.
"He drove, we say, within the rules.
"He drove in a sensible speed, in a sensible direction … he just drove to leave."
Mr Morrissey told the jury that his client did not make the dead woman "throw herself at the car".
"She went at him," he said.
"It's not his conduct that caused the death … it was her act … it's an act, by her, to make contact with him, make contact with the car."
The defence lawyer told the court that his client was not the type of person to leave the mother of his children for dead, and urged the jury to consider how dark it was and the "bumpy pot-holed road".
"When he got home, he's got no idea of this," Mr Morrissey said.
He also said that Ms Potter had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.11.
"No one wanted this to happen. Not Gayle Potter and not the accused man, Glenn," he said.
"Really it was Gayle who caused it by her acts."
The trial continues.
