A man claims he was held hostage in a Kambah home last year and bashed with a baseball bat by an "ugly" attacker, who had "terrible teeth" and a "beer gut".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
At a judge-alone trial in the ACT Supreme Court, Crown prosecutor Keegan Lee is trying to convince Justice John Burns that the alleged bat-wielding assailant was David Micheal Evans, 33.
The Crown claims Evans was at the home on January 18 last year to help Sharon Ann Stott, 58, enforce a purported debt.
Stott and Evans are jointly charged with forcible confinement, intentionally inflicting actual bodily harm and making a demand with a threat. Stott also faces a charge of attempting to kidnap the alleged victim.
The pair have each pleaded not guilty to all charges, with Evans set to argue he was not involved.
Stott admits being at the house at the time in question but disputes the alleged victim's claims, saying he lied about the incident and was actually the aggressor.
In his opening statement on Tuesday, Mr Lee told the court the alleged victim was visiting a female associate at the home when Stott and Evans followed him inside.
The pair allegedly forced the man to sit on a chair, with Stott accused of demanding $20,000 as Evans stood over the man with the bat and threatened to hit him if he did not comply.
Mr Lee said that about an hour into the incident, Stott told the man to stand up and expressed her intention to cable tie him and take him to her house.
He said the man "freaked out" and was repeatedly hit with the bat by Evans, then managed to grab a knife from the kitchen and scare Evans and Stott into exiting the house.
Mr Lee said the man followed the pair outside, where Evans was picked up and driven away by an unknown person. Stott stayed outside after the alleged victim stabbed one of her car tyres with the knife to stop her fleeing the scene before police arrived.
Mr Lee said police had found cable ties, gloves and items belonging to Evans in Stott's car. The baseball bat was located nearby in the street, and Evans "could not be excluded" as a match to DNA found on it.
The alleged victim told the court he knew Stott, but did not owe her money.
He said he had never seen the attacker with the bat before the incident. Asked to describe this person, he said it was an "ugly" man with "terrible teeth" and a "beer gut". He said he recognised Evans as the attacker when shown a photo board by police.
The alleged victim said he suffered a head wound, broken fingers and bruising "from top to toe". He said he had feared he would die because Evans "could not have hit me any harder".
Stott's barrister, Steven Whybrow, told the court he would suggest that the alleged victim had made up "a whole lot of stuff", including that Stott had demanded $20,000.
Mr Whybrow said the alleged victim would have heard "all the stories" linking Stott to underworld activity, and could have fabricated claims based on her reputation.
The barrister also raised questions about the alleged victim's state of mind and suggested that the man had actually been the aggressor that caused things to go "pear-shaped" at the Kambah home.
Under cross-examination, the alleged victim conceded lying to police about his drug use and admitted he was actually a heroin user who had previously bought the drug at the house in question.
Mr Whybrow suggested the alleged victim had gone there to try and "score" on the day of the incident, but the alleged victim repeatedly denied this and said he was there for a social visit.
The alleged victim also rejected Mr Whybrow's suggestion that he had lied about what happened when he stabbed Stott's car tyre, and that he had inflicted "wanton" damage on other parts of the vehicle.
The trial continues.
