A Wagga District Court trial has taken a dramatic turn after one of the offenders allegedly fled the courthouse upon hearing the jury's verdict.
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The jury on Thursday afternoon found four people guilty of a criminal plot that left a Junee man with serious injuries to his face after he was slashed with a machete.
Junee's Haydn Patrick Smith, 51, Sarah Anne McGrath, 36, Wagga's George Stoll, 27, as well as Bradley Triffitt, 32, had all pleaded not guilty to one charge each of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
After deliberating for about three-and-a-half hours on Thursday, the 11 jurors returned a verdict of guilty for all accused.
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Stoll had been accused of striking Timothy Robert Orr with a machete at Junee in the early hours of May 14, 2020, and the other offenders were charged for aiding the offence in a joint criminal enterprise.
The jury rejected the option of finding the offenders guilty on the lesser charge of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Triffitt alone faced an additional charge of being armed with a hammer with intent to commit the indictable offence of intimidation and was found not guilty of that offence.
At some point during a 10-minute adjournment for the offenders to speak with their barristers after the verdict, Triffitt allegedly left the courthouse without permission.
After Triffitt's barrister Ben Hart told the court what allegedly happened, District Court Judge Gordon Lerve issued a warrant for the offender's arrest.
Within 90 minutes of allegedly fleeing the building, Triffitt was back in custody on Thursday afternoon and remanded on the charge of failure to comply with bail conditions and was due to reappear in court on Monday.
Triffitt was nearly arrested during the trial for turning up to court late and without informing Judge Lerve that he had been admitted to hospital.
Barrister for Stoll, Stuart Bouveng asked for a period of eight weeks to gather materials for sentencing.
Barrister for Smith, John Heazlewood, sought bail for his client.
Crown prosecutor Max Pincott said Smith's circumstances did not qualify for an exemption to new legislation that removed bail for people awaiting sentencing.
Judge Lerve adjourned the court to allow further time to prepare Smith's bail application.
McGrath and Stoll were already in custody for breaching bail conditions prior to the trial.
Judge Lerve earlier thanked the 11 jury members on behalf of the court and the community for their "very considerable efforts".
"You have paid close and careful attention - that is obvious from the questions you have asked and material you requested. You are a very attentive jury," Judge Lerve said.
"Without you, jury trials could not function. Jury trials have existed in NSW since 1824 when civil courts took over from military tribunals in what was then the Colony of NSW.
"We have the great privilege of living in a society with rule of law which confers many rights but that also has responsibilities."
The 12th juror was excused from service after breaking their leg during the two-week trial.
The offender's barristers portrayed the victim, Mr Orr, as dishonest and unreliable.
The jury was shown text messages between the offenders detailing McGrath's "hate" for Mr Orr as her former partner and Smith's promised "payback".
Jurors also listened to a 45-minute triple 0 call in which Mr Orr said he was "set up" to get "cut open".
The Daily Advertiser can now reveal that the trial was almost aborted before it began.
In pre-trial submissions late last month, Crown prosecutor Max Pincott sought to delay the trial due to associates of Triffitt allegedly threatening Mr Orr with the aim of preventing him giving evidence.
Due to the backlog of cases in the District Court, any significant delay would likely have pushed the trial to next year and required a new pool of potential jurors.
Mr Orr decided to proceed as the Crown's main witness and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is investigating the alleged threat.
The four defendants also previously faced a mistrial after the jury was accidentally told the prejudicial information that one of the defendants had spent time in jail.
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