Update
The trial of a Highway Patrol officer, who was charged over a police car crash in which Cronulla woman Gai Vieira was critically injured in 2018, has ended with a hung jury.
Th jury was discharged on Friday afternoon after being unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
The jury foreman told Justice Sarah Huggett there was no prospect of reaching agreement if more time was allowed.
A note sent earlier to the judge said there were no jurors who would change their view and none was undecided.
The nine men and three women began deliberating at 10.45am on Thursday.
The Director of Public Prosecutions will decide whether Senior Constable Harry Thomas Little, 42, will face a retrial.
Mr Little pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.
Justice Huggett thanked the jury for their care and attention in considering the matter and told them not to look on the outcome as a failure of their duty.
"It does happen on occasions that juries are not able to reach a unanimous verdict," she said.
"Please don't look on this as a failure.
"You have considered the evidence, you have listened and the system is working if, in fact, you reach the decision you cannot reach a unanimous verdict.
"I thank you on behalf of the community."
Justice Huggett reminded the jury members it was an offence to talk about anything that transpired in the jury room as there was the potential to influence further proceedings.
"Whether these proceedings are retried is up to the Director of Public Prosecutions," she said.
The matter will return to court on February 26.
Earlier
The trial of a Highway Patrol officer, who was charged over a police car crash in which Cronulla woman Gai Vieira was critically injured in 2018, has ended with a hung jury.
Th jury was discharged on Friday afternoon after being unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
The jury foreman told Justice Sarah Huggett there was no prospect of reaching agreement if more time was allowed.
The nine men and three women began deliberating at 10.45am on Thursday.
The Director of Public Prosecutions will decide whether Senior Constable Harry Thomas Little, 42, will face a retrial.
Mr Little pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.
Justice Huggett thanked the jury for their care and attention in considering the matter an told them not to look on the outcome as a failure of their duty.
"It does happen on occasions that juries are not able to reach a unanimous verdict," she said.
"Please don't look on this as a failure.
"You have considered the evidence, you have listened and the system is working if, in fact, you reach the decision you cannot reach a unanimous verdict.
"I thank you on behalf of the community."
Justice Huggett reminded the jury members it was an offence to talk about anything that transpired in the jury room as there was the potential to influence further proceedings.
"Whether these proceedings are retried is up to the Director of Public Prosecutions," she said.
Earlier
The jury in the trial over the police car crash in which Cronulla woman Gai Vieira was critically injured in 2018 is deliberating for a second day.
Justice Sarah Huggett asked the jury of nine men and three women to continue their consideration of the evidence on Friday morning.
The judge said the verdict must be unanimous, even if the particular paths taken to reach that view differed.
"Experience has shown that juries are able to agree in the end if they are given more time to consider the evidence," the judge said.
Senior Constable Harry Thomas Little, 42, pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.
Earlier
After four hours of deliberation, a jury has been unable to reach a verdict in the trial of a police Highway Patrol officer charged over the crash in which Cronulla woman Gai Vieira was critically injured in 2018.
Justice Sarah Huggett told the jury she had received advice from them that they were in a position where they could not reach unanimous agreement and "don't know where to go next".
"I will send you home this afternoon and bring you back in the morning and give you direction and assistance," she said.
The judge warned it was an offence to discuss with anyone anything that had transpired in the jury room.
Earlier
The jury is considering its verdict in the trial of a police Highway Patrol officer charged over a crash in which Cronulla woman Gai Vieira was critically injured in 2018.
Justice Sarah Huggett completed her summing up on Thursday morning before the jury retired at 10.45am.
The judge told the 12 members of the jury to take as long as they needed to reach a unanimous decision.
Senior Constable Harry Thomas Little, 42, pleaded not guilty to dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm.
Mr Little was pursuing a driver, who was suspected of using a mobile phone, in a westerly direction on Kingsway at Cronulla when his Ford Falcon collided with Mrs Vieira's Mercedes, which was turning right from Connels Road.
The police car was clocked at 133km/h one second before the crash.
Mrs Vieira, who was 68 at the time, was critically injured, and crown prosecutor Carl Young told the court she was left with a brain injury "from which she will likely never recover".
Her three-year-old grandson, who was travelling in the back seat, was uninjured.
The Crown and defence agreed Mr Little accelerated quickly to 122km/h, "braked heavily and slowed" to about 73km/h to move around an L-plater and then accelerated again once back in the right lane.
Witnesses who were driving on Kingsway at the time testified they did not see police lights or hear a siren.
The defence argued Mr Little genuinely believed he had activated the warning lights.
Murray Trembath
St George and Sutherland Shire Leader reporter covering politics, urban affairs, council, development and general community news. Email: mtrembath@theleader.com.au
St George and Sutherland Shire Leader reporter covering politics, urban affairs, council, development and general community news. Email: mtrembath@theleader.com.au
