The jury in a Wagga District Court trial of four people accused of plotting to seriously injure a Junee man with a machete will on Thursday retire to consider its verdicts.
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Jury members were told they would be given final instructions after the Crown prosecutor and four defence barristers took most of Wednesday and Tuesday to deliver their closing statements.
Junee's Haydn Patrick Smith, 51, Sarah Anne McGrath, 36, Wagga's George Stoll, 27, as well as Bradley Triffitt, 32, have all pleaded not guilty to one charge each of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Mr Stoll has been accused of striking Mr Orr with a machete at Junee in the early hours of May 14, 2020, and the other defendants have been accused of aiding the offence in a joint criminal enterprise.
District Court Judge Gordon Lerve on Wednesday took just over two hours to sum up the case for the jury's 11 members. The 12th juror was excused from service after breaking their leg during the two-week trial.
The jury has the option of returning a guilty verdict for a lesser back-up charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Two of the defence barristers on Wednesday continued to suggest to the jury that they should not believe the testimony of alleged victim and prosecution witness, Timothy Robert Orr.
Mr Stoll's barrister, Stuart Bouveng, said the evidence was "very thin" and did not meet the high standard of beyond reasonable doubt.
"I say on behalf of Mr Stoll that you will not find Mr Orr accurate, reliable and honest," Mr Bouveng said.
Mr Bouveng suggested Mr Stoll had more severe injuries than Mr Orr's facial laceration as he had been attacked first and was weakened by cuts to his abdomen and knee.
Mr Bouveng also asked jurors not to judge the defendants' "lifestyle" that involved dropping in to houses around Junee late at night to share drugs and have sex.
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Mr Smith's barrister, John Heazlewood, submitted it was "fatal to the case" that a machete was not mentioned between the defendants until a text message just before the alleged assault that warned Mr Orr had a "f---ing huge machete".
Mr Heazlewood also submitted that Mr Orr lied to police as a "get out of jail card" because admitting to drug use or assault would breach an intensive corrections order.
Mr Triffitt has also solely been charged with being armed with a hammer with the intent to commit an indictable offence in the form of intimidation.
"The Crown put it that Mr Triffitt had the hammer to ward off Mr Orr. On that basis the Crown case must fail as there is a reasonable possibility of self defence," Judge Lerve said.
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