A judge in the High Court in Napier has discharged without conviction a man charged with the murder of 46-year-old grandmother Chattrice Maihi-Carroll.
The victim was found dead in her flat in the suburb of Tamatea in January 2008. A month later 46-year-old Zion King, who lived close by, was charged with her murder.
A trial in June last year lasted only a day before Justice Clifford discharged the jury and ordered a new trial.
That trial was due to begin on Monday but before a jury was empanelled, defence counsel Peter Wiiliams QC applied for his client to be discharged without conviction.
The Crown did not oppose the application.
Justice Clifford says the Crown accepted it would be unsafe for the trial to proceed, given the reliability of some evidence.
