A man has been found not guilty of murdering a burglar and convicted rapist he found inside his Newcastle home.

On Wednesday a Newcastle supreme court jury accepted Benjamin Batterham’s claim that he was making a citizen’s arrest in March 2016 when he chased Ricky Slater, tackled him, put him in a chokehold and repeatedly punched him in the head until police arrived.

The jury found Batterham, 35, who spent two months in prison after his arrest before being granted bail, not guilty of murder and the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Slater – who had scarring to his heart because of regular drug use, suffered liver disease and was obese – suffered a cardiac arrest after the attack but was revived by paramedics.

He had another two cardiac arrests in hospital and died the next day.

Throughout the trail the defence insisted that Batterham, an apprentice chef, had not intended to kill Slater or cause him serious harm.

Batterham smiled and nodded to the jury when the verdict was handed down. It had been deliberating since 1pm on Tuesday after a two-week trial.

Slater’s mother, Beryl Dickson, walked out of the courtroom immediately after the verdict.

The defence barrister, Winston Terracini SC, had argued Batterham had every legal right to do what he did and there was no proof his actions had caused Slater’s death.

The only reason Batterham had chased and tackled Slater was because “the deceased man wanted to be a thief”, Terracini said, and had tried to run from Batterham to escape justice.

At one stage during the eight-minute struggle, Slater bit Batterham on the hand, making the chef even more determined to hold him down until he could be arrested.

The crown prosecutor, Wayne Creasey SC, said Batterham was within his rights to chase and detain Slater but he went too far.

Creasey said Batterham was in a frenzy when threatening to kill Slater and ignored pleas from neighbours to release the burglar who was crying out that he could not breathe.

He said that if the jury did not find Batterham guilty of murder, he should be convicted of manslaughter because his actions had been dangerous and unlawful.

Medical experts called to give evidence during the two-week trial had differing opinions on what caused Slater’s death.

A clinical toxicologist, Dr Naren Gunja, told the jury he believed Slater, high on ice, had died of asphyxiation from being strangled.

But a forensic toxicologist and pharmacologist, Dr Michael Kennedy, disagreed, and said Slater suffered a heart attack due to the high level of methylamphetamine in his system and his existing heart condition.

Batterham was at home in the Newcastle suburb of Hamilton drinking with a friend when he saw Slater at the entrance to his seven-month-old daughter’s bedroom at 3.20am on 26 March 2016. Slater was carrying a shoulder bag containing three knives, cannabis and ice. Batterham’s partner and baby were not home.

The jury was not told during the trial about Slater’s lengthy criminal history, including his imprisonment for at least four years in 2009 for raping a teenage girl in south Tamworth.

The 16-year-old girl had been expecting her former boyfriend to visit when she answered a knock at the door to find Slater standing there pantless on 6 June 2007. Slater pushed his way into the house and raped the girl, telling her he would stab her if she did not keep quiet.

He pleaded guilty to aggravated sexual intercourse without consent and was jailed for six years, with a minimum of four years.