A woman who claims her former partner kidnapped her made the story up because "she knew she was going to be in trouble" after attempting to extort her own mother, the alleged abductor's lawyer has told a court.
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But a prosecutor says the alleged victim had "no motive" to lie about being kidnapped by Samuel Carrasco, who is on trial in the ACT Supreme Court.
Carrasco, 25, is accused of kidnapping his ex-partner, threatening to inject her with ketamine, and sending text messages to her mother demanding money in May 2021.
While he has pleaded guilty to blackmail, he is fighting charges of kidnapping for ransom, making a demand with a threat and common assault in his judge-alone trial.
The court has heard that when his former girlfriend broke up with him, Carrasco allegedly put a "very sharp" object against her neck, telling her it was a syringe full of ketamine, and then made her drive him to Queanbeyan.
In his closing address on Wednesday, defence lawyer Edward Chen attacked the account of the alleged victim, saying it was full of inconsistencies.
He said no evidence of a sharp weapon was ever found, nor were any injuries caused by one.
The woman had previously claimed Carrasco told her he wasn't "stupid" enough to leave a mark.
Mr Chen questioned why the woman entered a service station in Queanbeyan without alerting the petrol attendant she had been kidnapped.
He said it was particularly unusual considering she knew Carrasco had a warrant out for his arrest, meaning if police were alerted he would have been immediately detained.
He also said the woman's admission she typed some of the text messages to her mother asking for money showed she was complicit in an extortion attempt.
Mr Chen claimed there were inconsistencies in what the woman said she feared would happen to her if she did not comply with Carrasco's demands.
The woman has said she did not seek help from the service station attendant because Carrasco threatened to falsely tell police she had committed cybercrimes.
However, the alleged victim also described being relieved to see police when they found the pair on Oaks Estate Road in Queanbeyan.
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Prosecutor Soraya Saikal-Skea said while the alleged victim agreed to send some text messages to her mother, she had done so under duress.
"There was not agreement on her part, it was submission in the interest of self-preservation," she said.
"Consent giving as the result of violence ... is not consent."
Ms Saikal-Skea pointed to the woman's recollections of her thoughts at the time - "what was gonna happen to me? Was I gonna be found alive?" - as evidence of her fear of Carrasco.
She said the alleged victim had decided: "don't rock the boat and we'll be OK here."
Ms Saikal-Skea said the woman had a "million thoughts going through her head" while in the service station and was significantly less able-bodied than Carrasco.
She also rejected the defence's allegation the woman's account was inconsistent, saying the alleged victim was "utterly unmoved" on the most important matters.
When Mr Chen suggested the woman's changing recollection of the object pressed against her neck was evidence she had made the event up, Acting Justice Peter Berman said it could also suggest "people's memories not working as video recorders" and that "memories change over time".
Mr Chen responded, "[The] totality of all the inconsistencies cannot be explained."
Acting Justice Berman will hand down his verdicts at 2pm on Thursday.
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