A man who stabbed his neighbour with scissors has been acquitted after arguing he acted in self-defence.
A Queanbeyan District Court jury took just three hours and 20 minutes of deliberations to return three not guilty verdicts in the trial of Wayne Anthony Tompkins, 43, on Tuesday.
Mr Tompkins, who had been behind bars on remand for 13 months, was accordingly released from custody.
When his trial began last week, he pleaded not guilty to charges of wounding his neighbour with intent to murder and, alternatively, wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
He also denied detaining a woman at the scene of the stabbing, which took place at a unit opposite his in Lowe Street, Queanbeyan, in May 2022.
The Crown alleged Mr Tompkins had falsely accused his neighbour of raping a homeless woman before punching the man and stabbing him with scissors multiple times.
Prosecutors claimed he did so with murderous intent, telling the jury he had made a number of comments consistent with a desire to kill.
Mr Tompkins denied that was the case, claiming he went to the aid of a woman in his neighbour's unit after hearing her screaming.
He told the jury he had offered to chop up some cannabis for his neighbour, hoping "a couple of cones" would settle the situation.
But Mr Tompkins said his neighbour turned on him and he fought back in self-defence, trading blows with the man while still holding the scissors he had been using to prepare the drugs.
He also rejected suggestions he had stopped the woman from leaving the unit to raise the alarm.
It was not in dispute that the incident ended when the neighbour overpowered Mr Tompkins and wrestled away the scissors, which he subsequently took to the nearby Queanbeyan Police Station.
The man put the scissors on the counter while still bleeding from wounds to areas of his body that included the throat and left arm.
During closing addresses on Monday, a prosecutor urged the jury to reject what she called the "improbable" evidence of Mr Tompkins.
Defence barrister Jason Moffett said the neighbour's account was the one that did not make sense, suggesting the man "would've been like a pin pillow" if his claims were true.
"He would've had wounds all over him," Mr Moffett said.
