An alleged kidnapper says he was just collecting a $40,000 debt owed for a bike, a car and a bag of the drug ice.
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Fakatounaulupe "Lupe" Ngata and Matthew James Massey are standing trial in the ACT Supreme Court over a string of alleged robberies, beatings and kidnappings spanning three days in April 2009.
They have pleaded not guilty, and their lawyers have alleged the apartment was linked to the sale of illicit drugs.
Ngata told the jury today that he worked in bread delivery but was acting as a debt collector when he arrived at a top-floor apartment at the Bentley Suites complex in Forrest on April 13.
But he denied assaulting a man in the street below, where he allegedly kicked the victim in the head so hard the man defecated.
Ngata said an acquaintance of his, "Johnny Sing", had just recently been released from custody owing Ngata money for the sale of several dirtbikes.
The 32-year-old man said his acquaintance in turn was owed money by one of the alleged victims, a friend of a person staying at the apartment at the time.
Ngata agreed to go and collect $40,000 from the alleged victim, owed for the sale of a bike, a car and a bag of ice.
He said he drove around to the house with Massey, 35, and found the debtor and another man hiding in a wardrobe.
"[The men] were in the cupboard hugging each other, on their knees," Ngata said.
"They were both like sweating and shaking."
Ngata told the jury he agreed to give the man three weeks to pay provided he hand over a bike and car garaged at the man's Narrabundah home.
But the accused man said he then walked out onto the balcony and saw police gathering a short distance away.
"At the time I've noticed about three or four cop cars across the road, they were gearing up ... they're putting on vests, and like helmets," he said.
Ngata said he was immediately concerned because there were drugs in the apartment at the time.
"I said Matty, we've got to get the f--- out of here, we've got to get the f--- out of here because the police are about to raid,'' he told the jury.
The four men fled the apartment, and Ngata was subsequently arrested but released from police custody on bail the next morning.
He will continue giving evidence before Justice John Burns this afternoon.