Charges against three men accused of kidnapping and holding another person hostage have been upgraded on what was expected to be the first day of a hearing.
Dean Thomas Coyle, Brenton Joseph James Menteleone, and Sadock Nibizi were expected to face a four-day hearing in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday, July 20.
However, they were committed to face a trial in a higher court after five new charges were issued by the prosecution.
Lawyers for the accused men entered pleas of not guilty on their clients' behalf to: making a demand with threat to inflict grievous bodily harm, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, attempted aggravated burglary and joint commission taking a motor vehicle without consent.
When the men were first arrested in September 2025, police alleged they kidnapped another man and made demands that he pay money owed.
The court heard this was allegedly a $200,000 electrical business debt.
The alleged kidnappers arranged to meet the other man at the Garran shops before they are said to have threatened him verbally and with a baseball bat.
Police claim the men then forcibly confined the alleged victim in a vehicle and travelled to a home in Garran and later to Monash.
Officers found the alleged hostage-takers and the victim in Monash before arresting the three men.
On Monday, magistrate Glenn Theakston ordered the Australian Federal Police to pay Coyle and Menteleone costs for the vacated hearing.
The men remain on bail and the case is set to be mentioned in the ACT Supreme Court later this month.
