An evening interaction between two men about the sale of a $1100 mobile phone on Anzac Day was a "peaceful scenario" that did not fit with a gunpoint robbery because investigators did not find a gun, a defence lawyer argued before his client was acquitted.
Shaun Mark Gale pleaded not guilty to aggravated robbery and had been on trial in the ACT Supreme Court this week.
The court heard that Mr Gale arranged for the complainant to meet him at a cul-de-sac in Bonython on the evening of Anzac Day in 2021 after the latter advertised a Samsung Galaxy for sale on Facebook Marketplace.
Mr Gale had used a profile under a different name on the social media platform and he insisted for COVID face masks to be worn at the meeting.
He arrived on a bicycle and handed over a wallet. The Crown case against him was that he produced a gun, pointed it at the complainant then threatened to shoot if the phone was not handed over.
After obtaining the device, Mr Gale left on his bike through pedestrian pathways.
Evidence in the trial included screenshots of Facebook messages between the two men.
The complainant also gave evidence and his police interview about two hours after the incident was played to the court.
The jury was also told of recorded phone conversations involving Mr Gale about shortchanging the complainant only.
One had him telling his partner: "I went to buy that phone and I'd given a thousand bucks. He wasn't happy with a thousand bucks, but he took it anyway".
In a conversation with his mother, the accused said he gave the complainant "$800 or whatever it was".
In his closing address on Friday, defence lawyer Jonathan Cooper said his client admitted to "a lot of the facts" related to only shortchanging the complainant.
Mr Cooper said the facts could not support a gun because one was not found during police investigations.
The court heard that the nature of the 15-minute interaction between Mr Gale and the complainant was uncontested, which involved the latter saying the situation was okay after being asked by a resident, who was not called to give evidence, on that street.
"This peaceful scenario does not fit with a robbery at gunpoint," Mr Cooper said.
The defence lawyer said the complainant's "remarkably calm" demeanour when he went to police lacked the ring of truth.
He said a robbery needed a force or a threat of force, which he said did not exist in this case because there was no evidence of a gun.
Crown prosecutor David Swan in his closing address said Mr Gale had no money during the meeting.
"The Crown case is the accused produced a gun only at the point where he was satisfied that reset had been completed on the phone," Mr Swan said.
Mr Swan said the complainant denied the suggestion that there was no gun.
"Approaching a year later, he's given an entirely consistent account," he said.
Mr Swan said the recorded conversations were "self-serving" because his comments were not made under oath.
The jury on Friday returned a not guilty verdict to the charge and the alternative of robbery.
