A producer of Youtube comedian Friendlyjordies who was accused of stalking and intimidating former deputy premier John Barilaro has had the charges against him dropped.
Kristo Langker, 21, was arrested and charged in June last year with four counts of stalking and intimidating Mr Barilaro, with intent to cause physical harm.
Mr Langker works for Jordan Shanks, also known as Friendlyjordies.
In Central Local Court today, all four charges against Mr Langker were dropped, and NSW Police ordered to pay $12,000 in legal costs.
Mr Langker's lawyer Mark Davis said the charge was "inappropriate" for something "utterly trivial" and caused his client reputational harm.
"On one level we're very happy and grateful to the courts and Kristo's certainly very relieved, but it's a very sobering issue on reflection," he said.
"If Kristo hadn't filmed this interaction with Barilaro, he would be proceeding to a conviction I suspect."
NSW Police unsuccessfully applied to suppress Friendlyjordies videos in October last year, arguing he was "interfering with the administration of justice".
In November last year, a defamation suit brought on by Mr Barilaro was settled with no damages paid, but Mr Shanks agreed to edit two videos to remove content Mr Barilaro claimed was ‘offensive’.
The first of the alleged stalking offences occurred on April 19 last year at Macquarie University where Mr Barilaro was speaking.
Video posted on the Friendlyjordies channel shows Mr Shanks, dressed as Luigi from the Super Mario series, approach Mr Barilaro and call him a “silly calzone” and yelling “why you threaten to sue me?”.
Mr Langker says to Mr Barilaro: “I’ve got some documents you might want to see”.
The second event occurred outside NSW Parliament on June 4, when Mr Langker approached Mr Barilaro.
He was arrested the same day by the fixated persons unit.
NSW Police has been contacted for a response.
