Man acquitted of assault

Updated November 5 2012 - 12:29pm, first published August 25 2005 - 1:15pm

A FORMER Creswick man accused of assaulting his pregnant wife to try to make her miscarry was acquitted in the County Court at Ballarat yesterday.
Adam Bruce Tudball, 30, of Caulfield South, walked free from court about 9.45am after a jury of five men and seven women found him not guilty of attempting to intentionally cause serious injury and
intentionally causing injury.
The jury returned its verdict within 15 minutes of resuming its deliberations after the overnight break.
It had deliberated for about two hours on Wednesday.
The court had heard Mr Tudball allegedly attacked his estranged wife Marny while she was getting ready for work at Creswick on April 7, 2003.
It was alleged Mr Tudball punched her in the stomach and kicked her in the back because she refused to have an abortion.
Mrs Tudball claimed her husband told her he was there "to fix the problem" prior to the alleged assault and left her with pain and bruising.
She told the jury she started bleeding three days later and subsequently lost the baby.
But defence lawyer Paul D'Arcy questioned the reliability of Mrs Tudball's evidence.
Mr D'Arcy said she had not disclosed the particulars of the alleged assault to her doctor or asked him to perform a physical examination.
He said Mrs Tudball had admitted she was emotionally overwrought over the breakdown of her marriage and, after the alleged attack, had telephoned Mr Tudball, sent him text messages on his telephone
and bought him a Christmas present.
Mr Tudball's trial, before Judge Frank Dyett, began on Tuesday.
During the trial, the jury heard from eight prosecution witnesses, including Mrs Tudball, her mother, her doctor and work colleagues.
The defence did not lead any evidence.

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