A Canberra man accused of kidnapping his ex-girlfriend and threatening her with a syringe of ketamine unless she drove him to Yass has been found not guilty in the ACT Supreme Court.
Samuel Carrasco initially put his head in his hands and then whooped as he was being led from the dock after Acting Justice Peter Berman read the verdict aloud.
Prosecutors had alleged Mr Carrasco kidnapped the woman after she broke up with him, then forced her to text her mother demanding $5,000 for her safe release.
But the defence team claimed the woman was complicit in the blackmail attempt.
The court heard in May last year, the pair had driven from the Australian War Memorial and up Black Mountain to Canberra's Telstra Tower.
There, Mr Carrasco was accused of pushing a sharp object into his ex-girlfriend's neck, which she said he told her was a syringe containing ketamine.
The woman gave evidence that Mr Carrasco then threatened to inject her and tie her up unless she drove him to Yass.
Police caught up with the car near the airport, after the woman's mother called triple-0 having received a series of texts from her daughter's phone.
'Inconsistencies' in alleged victim's testimony
Acting Judge Berman said the text messages, which claimed both the woman and Mr Carrasco were being kidnapped, were one of the factors which forced him to conclude the testimony of the alleged victim had inconsistencies.
One message read, "I need money, I am in trouble", and was followed by another which read, "please mummy".
Acting Judge Berman said the order of the texts indicated the woman was pleading with her mother to send money, rather than pleading for rescue.
He also pointed to a time during the car ride when the woman went into a petrol station in Queanbeyan while Mr Carrasco waited in the car.
The court heard that although she purchased cans of soft drink, she did not ask the attendant for help.
The woman had told the court she was too scared to do so because Mr Carrasco had threatened to accuse her of stalking.
But the court found that claim was questionable, given she was not too scared to text her mother and ask for help later in the night.
Police also found no needle or sharp objects in the car to support her claim of an object being pushed into her neck.
Acting Justice Berman said given the prosecution's case rested almost entirely on the woman's account, he could not find Mr Carrasco guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mr Carrasco had earlier pleaded guilty to blackmail and was remanded in custody.
The matter will be back in court next week.
