The alleged victim of a knifepoint robbery at Haig Park invented the story as revenge for a drug swindle which left him paying $150 for a small bag of sugar, a jury has heard.
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Defence lawyer James Stewart closed his case at the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday, saying accusations his client Ivan Stephen Djerke, 41, robbed the man were concocted after the drug fraud.
"Sometimes fact is stranger than fiction, and can I suggest this is one of those cases," he said.
Mr Djerke has pleaded not guilty to aggravated robbery after the alleged victim said the Gordon man held a knife to his stomach and took $170 from him in the early hours of March 3 last year.
But Mr Stewart told the jury that the alleged victim had asked his client for methamphetamine, or ice, however he and his partner received sugar instead.
"They were annoyed, knew they had been sold sugar and decided to take revenge," he said.
Evidence that the alleged victim went out to get more cash later threw doubt on his story, Mr Stewart said.
"If this was Ivan the Terrible, as these people want you to believe, why would you want more cash on you?" he said.
Had a robbery occurred, the alleged victim would have gone to the police station soon after, but instead he went out to buy drugs hours later, Mr Stewart said.
He said it was unclear how much money his client was alleged to have robbed as there were different sums mentioned in the trial, and that the alleged victim tried to cover up when his story appeared to involve receiving $10 notes from an ATM.
"Wouldn't you think there would be some precision about what was actually stolen or given in those circumstances? But that's entirely not the case at all," Mr Stewart said.
He also said despite the alleged victim's tears when recounting his story on Monday, the man had a history of criminal offences and was "accustomed to meting out violence".
In his closing address, prosecutor James Walker said while the alleged victim was "no angel", he had not invented the robbery.
Mr Walker said his client had been consistent in his account that he was walking home after withdrawing money from an ATM when Mr Djerke jumped out from behind some bushes at Haig Park and robbed him with a knife.
The alleged victim was genuinely emotional about the incident, he said.
"Does he strike you as someone who can turn on the waterworks whenever he likes?"
Police had found Mr Djerke the following day with a knife, making it likely he used it in the robbery, Mr Walker said.
But Mr Stewart said the alleged victim had seen Mr Djerke with a knife before the alleged robbery, and used it in his story.
"It's the perfect piece of esoteric knowledge to use in making a false accusation," he said.
The jury retired to consider its verdict on Wednesday afternoon.
