A man has described feeling wind generated by bullets flying past his head when a "half friend" allegedly fired a rifle at him during a dispute over a couple of fridges.
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But with a lack of evidence backing up the man's story in a "word on word" case, a magistrate has dismissed several charges laid against accused gunman Kevin Thomas Clarke.
Clarke, of Gilmore, appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to a string of charges, including cannabis cultivation and the unauthorised possession of firearms and ammunition.
The 40-year-old pleaded not guilty, however, to theft and four counts of discharging a firearm.
During a hearing on those charges, the alleged victim told the court he had been "half friends" with Clarke.
He said he was "passed out on the couch" at his home on January 13, and woke to an alert from a motion sensor.
The man claimed he looked out the window and saw Clarke loading his fridges, which had been drying on the front lawn after a clean, into a car and driving off.
He said he rang Clarke and sought the return of the fridges, which were worth about $2000 each, only for Clarke to "hurl abuse" and block his number.
This prompted him to go to Clarke's home on January 15, when he claimed to have found Clarke and the fridges in a garage.
The man told the court Clarke ordered him to "f--- off" and threatened to "[put] a bullet hole in you like the neighbour's bin".
He said that when he picked up the fridges and went to take them, Clarke tried to shoot him with two paintball guns.
When both failed to fire, the man claimed, Clarke grabbed a .22 pump action rifle and shot at him as he dropped the fridges and ran to his car in fear.
After the man gave a statement to police, officers searched Clarke's home and car on Australia Day. The search turned up items including the fridges, a number of weapons and 12 cannabis plants.
Defence lawyer Jan de Bruin sought to cast doubt on the theft allegation, suggesting that Facebook Messenger records lent support to Clarke's assertion that the man had sold him the fridges.
Dr de Bruin put it to the man that he had been "desperate" to sell the fridges, and that after doing so he had approached Clarke and asked for one of them back.
He suggested Clarke never threatened the man or fired any guns, saying there was no independent evidence of either of these things.
But the man vehemently disagreed.
"I even felt the wind off the bullets," he said, claiming four rounds had flown past his head.
The court also heard from the man's former partner, who said she knew nothing about the apparent shooting other than what he had told her.
Clarke's sister and one of her friends gave evidence of having seen the man enter the garage, then leave again without any sign of commotion.
Magistrate Bernadette Boss questioned how she could find Clarke guilty of the contested charges given the lack of support for the alleged victim's version of events.
Prosecutors, who had indicated two police officers would testify after the lunch adjournment, ultimately decided not to offer any further evidence.
Dr Boss accordingly dismissed the five contested charges, and remanded Clarke in custody on the other matters.
Clarke is due to be sentenced on November 26.
