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A Christchurch engineer was found not guilty of supplying ecstasy to an American polo player who died of a drug overdose at his home. Lauren Biddle during a meeting at her home, prompting the 22-year-old to die from a drug overdose.
Joseph Douglas McGirr, 39, faced two charges for supplying a Class B controlled drug and attempting to pervert the course of justice. The jury found him guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
McGirr pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis at the beginning of his trial in Christchurch District Court.
Gasps could be heard from the public gallery where McGirr’s family and friends were sitting as the verdict was read Friday night.
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Lauren Biddle was found dead in the spa pool of McGirr’s home near Sumner in Christchurch on October 22, 2018.
An autopsy found that he had a concentration of MDMA in his system approximately 15 times higher than the usual level of recreational use of the drug.
SUPPLIED
American polo star Lauren Mikaila Biddle died in Christchurch on October 22, 2018.
A forensic pathologist said the most likely cause of death was a drug overdose that resulted in sudden cardiac arrest.
His father, Tommy Biddle, said it was a “shame” that the jury did not find McGirr guilty on both counts, but was not surprised by the verdict.
“There were different versions of what was happening. We will never know the whole truth of what happened that night.
“Hopefully he will be punished in some way.”
Biddle had been in New Zealand less than two weeks before he died. He had traveled to the country with his close friend Guy Higginson and had planned to stay four months, working and living in the Higginson family home.
On October 21, 2018, Higginson, Biddle, and Higginson’s friend, Sam Chambers, visited McGirr, who was subject to a curfew after a conviction for driving under the influence and was wearing a monitored ankle bracelet. electronically.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Joseph Douglas McGirr on the first day of his trial in Christchurch District Court.
The evening was largely spent in the spa pool on the house’s second-floor terrace, and the alcohol flowed freely: beer, wine, RTD and rum gulped straight from the bottle.
McGirr, Higginson and Biddle also smoked cannabis.
After Chambers left, cannabis gave way to ecstasy.
Higginson told the jury that McGirr pulled out a plate with three 3-centimeter lines of crushed ecstasy. Higginson and Biddle snorted, and McGirr probably did the same.
Higginson said he didn’t remember much “for a while” after inhaling the line, but recalled that McGirr offered them another line a little later, which they both took.
New Zealand Police
The whirlpool at Joseph Douglas McGirr’s house.
McGirr denied supplying Higginson and Biddle with the drug and told the jury that the couple went into the kitchen “uninvited”, crushed ecstasy tablets there and inhaled it “of their own free will and without any instruction or influence from me.”
When Biddle fell unconscious in the spa pool, she was pulled out of the water and CPR was performed in an attempt to revive her. Higginson said he told McGirr to call an ambulance, but he refused, saying he would not allow police to come to his home.
Higginson put Biddle in the passenger seat of his car and backed up the steep drive to the street where he called 111.
When emergency services arrived, they found Higginson giving CPR to a lifeless Biddle.
Emergency personnel performed the chest compressions for the next 45 minutes. At 1:20 a.m., she was pronounced dead.
Supplied / New Zealand Police
The scene on Spinnaker Lane in Christchurch where emergency services found Lauren Biddle unresponsive.
Hide evidence
After Higginson left with Biddle, McGirr went into a cleaning frenzy. He closed the spa again, dumped bottles and cans, took cannabis plants out of the pots and tossed them into the undergrowth in front of the house.
He took Biddle’s clothes and bag in the leaf-covered section and covered it with leaves.
The Crown said this was done because McGirr knew Biddle was dead and that the police would come. He wanted to erase any signs that she had been there.
McGirr denied this, saying it was “not a conscious decision” to bury Biddle’s clothes, and he did so in an effort to commemorate her. The jury rejected his claim that burying the clothes was an act of “spiritual reconciliation” and not an attempt to thwart the police investigation.
New Zealand Police
Lauren Biddle’s partially buried jandals and purse. The photo was presented as evidence during the trial of Joseph Douglas McGirr in Christchurch District Court.
Crown prosecutor Kerry White said it was obvious that McGirr was in a rush to remove evidence from the party before police arrived.
During the investigation, the police discovered that some liquor bottles with the wrong caps on or no caps had been put away, cans filled with liquor had been thrown in the trash and a cutting board that still had traces of ecstasy had been left behind. home.
McGirr has been in custody on bail until his sentencing in March.
