Farm worker found not guilty of murder, guilty of manslaughter for pensioner's leg amputation

A farm worker who amputated the leg of a Far North Queensland pensioner using a circular saw has been found not guilty of murder.

Kalman Tal, 66, paid banana picker John Yalu $5,000 cash to remove his leg at a public riverfront park in Innisfail in the early hours of February 19, 2022.

During a four-day trial, the Supreme Court in Cairns heard Mr Tal claimed to have suffered years of pain in his leg, and had been offering locals cash for an amputation in the weeks leading up to his death.

Yalu pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the start of the trial on Monday but denied intending to cause Mr Tal grievous bodily harm.

The jury found Yalu guilty of manslaughter.

The jury began deliberations late yesterday and returned a unanimous verdict after less than three hours of further deliberations this morning.

Yalu leaned into a microphone from the dock and said "thank you, too", as jurors left the courtroom after delivering the verdict.

He is due to be sentenced for manslaughter on Monday.

Trial centred on intent

The jury had to decide what Yalu's intent was when he performed the amputation at a public park along Fitzgerald Esplanade in Innisfail, about 90 kilometres south of Cairns.

Mr Tal called Yalu about 3am and said he was waiting for him with the tools to do the job, the court heard.

Once Yalu arrived, they went together to the park where Mr Tal showed Yalu how to use the circular saw and instructed him to hammer metal stakes into the ground to hold the 66-year-old's legs in place.

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the pair's movements before and after the amputation, as well as during the three minutes it took Yalu to cut the leg at the ankle.

Mr Tal later hopped and crawled back to the passenger seat of his car, but the court heard that instead of driving Mr Tal to the hospital, Yalu walked away.

The Vanuatu national told police after his arrest the same day, that he panicked when he realised Mr Tal was dying.

A passer-by, Richard David, found Mr Tal in the gutter with a phone connected to Triple Zero (000) about 10 minutes after Yalu left.

Despite the best efforts of emergency services, Mr Tal was declared dead at 4:30am.

Crown prosecutor Nicole Friedewald told the court Yalu was guilty of murder as his intent was to remove a distinct part of Mr Tal's body, an act which constituted grievous bodily harm.

Defence barrister Jacob Kantor argued Yalu's intention was to help an older man who had been pleading and "pressuring" him to help alleviate chronic pain that doctors had been unable to treat.