A spurned eHarmony user has been found not guilty of trespassing into an ex-lover's home and using a gun to detain her in an ordeal that lasted at least two hours.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Drew Francis Thompson, 30, of Watson, was accused of entering a woman's Lyneham home in November 2013, waiting for her with a firearm, putting a gloved hand to her mouth and telling her not to scream before detaining her.
A jury at the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday took two hours to find Mr Thompson not guilty on a charge of trespassing into a building intending to cause harm or threaten to cause harm, and a charge of unlawfully confining a person.
In closing the defence's case, lawyer Grant Brady said the alleged victim lied by saying his client brought a gun to her home after their relationship went sour.
The woman had varied her descriptions of the gun's colour and size, and at one point said the weapon had a silencer, Mr Brady told jurors.
"The silencer reeks of CSI, of television," he said.
"If the gun was there, she would have seen it and been able to describe it."
But prosecutor Anthony Williamson in his closing address said the woman could not be expected to give evidence that was identical in all details to her account of the alleged incident five years ago.
Her description of the gun matched one police found at Mr Thompson's home, and it was doubtful she would make up an "elaborate lie" about the incident, Mr Williamson said.
Mr Thompson had fled armed police when they arrived at his home, showing he knew they arrived because of the alleged incident with the woman, the court heard.
But Mr Brady said his client, who pleaded not guilty to both charges, ran because he was not thinking rationally when police came.
The alleged victim was worried Mr Thompson might return after he came to her home in November 2013 in an "emotional state", the jury heard.
She went to the police station and exaggerated their meeting so Mr Thompson didn't come back, Mr Brady said.
"You might think it's understandable, but she still lied," he said.
Mr Thompson's defence lawyers said he was invited into the woman's home that day, had a lengthy discussion with her and left.
The jury previously heard the pair had met in March 2013 on the dating website eHarmony, but the relationship quickly deteriorated, leading to a public spat in October 2013 when the defence contended the woman had "humiliated" and yelled at Mr Thompson.
Prosecutors admitted she had treated Mr Thompson "appallingly" that month, when she said she'd used him, ridiculed his clothes and criticised him for living with his parents.
"There's no way someone subjected to such a cruel attack would not harbour anger," Mr Williamson said.
Prosecutors said letters that Mr Thompson wrote before the alleged incident showed he intended to break into her apartment and hold her at gunpoint.
Mr Brady rejected this, saying they showed his client was suicidal and that the woman's criticisms in October might have exacerbated his depression.
