Fixed income head named in assault case

The man who was acquitted by a jury after pleading self-defence, is Fisher Funds head of fixed income, David McLeish.

McLeish who has worked for Fisher for more than 13 years has previously worked at Goldman Sachs, UBS Investment Bank and Morgan Stanley - all in London.

In March this year at the Auckland District Court a jury heard how tensions had been rising between McLeish and his neighbour involving windows overlooking the neighbour’s property and a screen overshadowing McLeish’s garden,

Matters came to a head on Good Friday 2022 when McLeish had been playing the macarena loudly and repeatedly outside and the neighbour sprayed the speaker with a hose. McLeish then jumped the fence and the two men began a physical fight, with the neighbour’s wife spraying them both with a hose.

McLeish landed blows to the neighbour’s head, but the neighbour reciprocated and split his opponent’s eye.

After an hour of deliberations the jury agreed that McLeish had acted in self-defence and found him not guilty of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to injure.

McLeish had applied for permanent name suppression but this was rejected by the judge as he had been acquitted.