The victim of an alleged kidnapping says his captors said they were working for a person they called ''the old lady'' when they hit him with a baseball bat and threatened to cut off his ear.
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And the mechanic has told a court he was forced to help his alleged assailants push-start the car they used to snatch him from his Fyshwick workshop the following day.
Matthew James Massey and Fakatounaulupe ''Lupe'' Ngata have pleaded not guilty in the ACT Supreme Court over a spate of alleged kidnappings, beatings and robberies spanning three days in April 2009.
The court has heard Massey, 35, and Ngata, 32, were acting as debt collectors when they allegedly terrorised three people in Canberra's south.
But lawyers for the accused men have argued the three complainants were linked to drug dealing and a brothel running out of a top-floor apartment in Forrest, and had a reason to want Massey and Ngata in custody and off the streets.
Ngata's barrister, Shane Gill, suggested yesterday morning that the second witness's testimony, about being kicked so hard he defecated, was a work of ''pulp fiction''.
The court also heard the same witness gave a fake name to police while making a statement about an earlier related incident and had been convicted of dishonesty offences in five different jurisdictions.
The third alleged victim told the ACT Supreme Court yesterday that Massey pinned him to the ground and rubbed a knife along the back of his ear after he and Ngata discovered him and another man cowering in a cupboard at the apartment on April 13. The witness said Massey and Ngata demanded drugs and money, and forced the two alleged victims to try unsuccessfully to open a safe ripped down from a wall in the unit.
At one point Massey allegedly struck him in the left shoulder with a baseball bat, and photos of apparent bruising in the area were shown to the jury.
''Basically they first initially said they were sent there for someone they referred to as 'old mate','' he said.
''Then they said they were under contract for 'the old lady'.''
The court heard the four left the unit fearing the imminent arrival of police and were eventually separated, and the witness contacted the authorities.
But he said he was shocked the next day when Massey and Ngata arrived at his workshop talking about ''unfinished business'' and walked him to a nearby car they had to push-start.
''Massey didn't really know how to drive, he was still grasping the concept, so he was going through red lights and all sorts of stuff,'' the witness said.
The court heard the trio drove to find property allegedly dumped during the flight from the Bentley Suites in Forrest the previous night, before heading to a house in Kambah and back to Narrabundah with one of the other complainants.
The witness said the car had to be push-started and at one point Massey and the witness travelled to another house in Kambah which the accused man said belonged to ''the old lady''.
He said Massey eventually left him by the side of the road in Weston Creek but not before the man spotted duct tape, a shovel and cable ties stashed in the car.
The trial before Justice John Burns continues today.