Apple Watch heart rate data provides vital evidence in murder trial

Wearables are in the courtroom once again as data from an Apple Watch could help explain what happened in a murder trial in Australia.

Heart rate data recorded on the smartwatch could potentially help establish a timeline and explanation of the death of Myrna Nilsson in Perth, Australia.

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Caroline Nilsson, her daughter-in-law who is on trial for murder, has claimed that her mother-in-law was ambushed at her home and tied up by a group of men who followed her home in a car.

Prosecutors however have cast doubt on the story and are using data from an Apple Watch worn by the mother-in-law to indicate that she wasn't in fact ambushed when she arrived at her home and actually died hours earlier than her daughter-in-law claims.

Ms Nilsson said that an argument took place between the men and her mother-in-law for 20 minutes but she did not hear the fatal attack because she was in the kitchen with the door closed. The police were alerted by a neighbour after Ms Nilsson had appeared from the house gagged and distressed as she had managed to escape after the men left.

According to prosecutors, the heart rate data recorded by the Apple Watch worn by Myrna Nilsson is consistent with a person going into shock and losing consciousness, adding that the attack and subsequent death happened earlier than suggested.

If the Apple Watch evidence is accepted, that would point to the attack happening over three hours before Ms Nilsson said she emerged from the house.

This isn't the first time that a wearable has provided an potentially vital insight into a murder case. In 2017, Fitbit data was used as part of a case involving a man accused of murdering his wife. The data from a Fitbit, which indicated the last movements of Connie Dabate appeared to conflict with the time her husband Richard Dabate said his wife had been killed by intruders.

The trial of Ms Nilsson is set to continue in June.

Source: BBC