ACT Supreme Court acquits Samuel Carrasco of kidnapping because of accuser's 'puzzling' story

Samuel Carrasco, 25, was found not guilty of kidnapping for ransom, making a demand with a threat and common assault by Acting Justice Peter Berman in the ACT Supreme Court on Thursday.

He has pleaded guilty to blackmail.

The prosecution alleged that Mr Carrasco had forced his former girlfriend to drive him from the Australian War Memorial car park to the top of Telstra Tower after she broke up with him in May 2021.

He was accused of then pushing a sharp object against her neck and threatening to inject her with ketamine, tie her up and drive her to Yass.

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However, the court was not presented evidence of a weapon, and Acting Justice Berman said the prosecution's case relied "almost exclusively" on the ex-girlfriend's account.

The woman, 27, drove to Queanbeyan with Mr Carrasco in the passenger seat.

There, she entered a service station to buy two cans of coke. While inside, she did not ask a service station attendant for help.

Text messages demanding ransom money were later sent from the woman's phone to her mother, saying she and Mr Carrasco had both been kidnapped.

The judge said many things the alleged victim did that evening were inconsistent with her account being reliable.

This included her failure to ask for help when she entered the service station, which he called "puzzling" and unable to be explained by the "vagaries of human behaviour" when under stress.

The woman said she would have called for help if Mr Carrasco had not "snatched" her phone, but didn't ask for help at the station because she was afraid of being jailed over false allegations.

Acting Justice Berman said it was also confusing why Mr Carrasco would let her into a service station by herself, when he had a warrant out for his arrest.

The woman admitted to sending some messages from her phone to her mother, alleging Mr Carrasco dictated most of them.

She said she wrote "please mummy" to try and alert her mother she had been kidnapped.

Acting Justice Berman said in context, the messages seemed more consistent with her wanting her mother to pay a ransom than a plea for help.

The judge said the evidence presented did not suggest the woman would try and extort her mother.

He said it appeared they had a very close, loving relationship and genuine affection for one another.

After receiving some of the ransom texts, the mother called triple zero and police located Mr Carrasco and the alleged victim.

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Two police officers giving evidence on Wednesday said the woman was "very distraught" when they arrived.

A sentencing date for the blackmail charge is expected to be set next Thursday.

Correction: A previous version of this article contained incorrect information about Mr Carrasco's charge of common assault. He has been acquitted of that charge.

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