Chris Cairns found not guilty of perjury, perverting course of justice

He had spoken to his wife Mel and their two children, he said, and choked up when he mentioned them. “There has been a lot of damage done and I think that’s unfortunate”.

“I couldn’t guarantee that Lou Vincent is not a changed man. I think he sincerely wishes to change his life round, but the problem was that, in his previous life, he’d done so many things that he was ashamed of that the jury really looked at that first, probably”.

On Monday, nevertheless, Cairns was discovered not responsible of perjury and perverting the course of justice, ending what the forty five-yr-previous described as “5 years of hell”. This “not on our patch” response should, in itself, be troubling, not least given the number of cricketers who returned to “official” cricket after the rebel ICL tournament folded in 2008; Vincent was just one.

When the not guilty verdict came there was great relief for his mother Sue, her husband and Cairns’ stepfather, Wayne Wilson, said.

Said Doull: “I don’t know whether it’s going to go away for a long time and whether that means court cases, I don’t know, but the stigma will hang around New Zealand cricket and the people involved for quite a long time to come”.

“I suppose questions shall be requested of Brendon as to why he did that”.

However, he could now face a third court battle.

The perjury charge against Cairns related to his successful 2012 libel action against former IPL chairman Lalit Modi at the High Court in London, which arose as a result of a tweet sent by Modi in 2010 accusing Cairns of fixing during the now defunct Indian Cricket League. “I will consider how this affects my own civil claim against Cairns in due course”.

He was accused of falsely declaring under oath that he had never cheated at cricket, and of perverting the course of justice by inducing Vincent to give a false statement in that case.

The Herald’s Jared Savage talks to Radio Sport’s Night Train host Mark Watson following the Chris Cairns not guilty verdict. The New Zealand captain had testified against the former allrounder during the trial. If they had known about McCullum, Modi’s legal team would have called him as a witness.

“I think reputationally I’m completely scorched, burned completely, but it hasn’t stopped me and it won’t stop me”.

Earlier, McCullum had told the jury that Cairns had approached him three times in total over fixing a match.

The barrister slumped in his chair and asked for a cup of water before Mr Justice Sweeney said to them: “If the defendants want to be released they can be”.

This was because the 36-year-old was never investigated, let alone charged, for the match-fixing and bribery crimes he confessed to.

And the response of the ICC to claims made by a highly respected cricketer such as Brendon McCullum must similarly be learned from if their anti-corruption unit is to shed its reputation among the players as a toothless tiger.