Anthony Stott kidnap trial: Crown disputes claim he was armed with knife

The defence lawyer for a woman accused of kidnapping a Brisbane private school teacher has argued he might still be alive if he had been held longer.

The front gate of the northern NSW farm where Anthony Stott was allegedly detained

The bizarre death of Brisbane private school teacher Anthony Stott was “absolutely tragic” but a woman accused of kidnapping him hours before he died didn’t kill him, a jury has been told.

They also heard that Stott might still be alive if he had been held captive at a northern NSW farm for longer, and that more people could have been killed because he was driving “like a complete goose” before his alleged kidnapping and subsequent death.

Anthony Stott at school French Week celebrations

The St Peters Lutheran College teacher was killed by a semi-trailer on the M1 in February 2020 after being held captive at a farm at Cudgera Creek in northern NSW.

It followed a mysterious mid-air meltdown on a flight from Sydney to Brisbane the previous day – during which he masturbated and yelled obscenities – as well as a late-night, high-speed drive from Brisbane which ended with him skidding off the M1 in his BMW and abandoning it.

Stott then wandered on to the remote farm about 3.30am, where he was tied to a plastic chair and allegedly hit with the golf club as his drunken captors demanded to know “why the f--- he was there”, Lismore District Court has been told.

Lauren Grainger, 41, who lived at the farm, has pleaded not guilty to Stott’s aggravated kidnapping.

Her co-accused, ex-partner Mark Frost and his friend Craig Button, pleaded guilty earlier this year and received reduced sentences for testifying against Grainger.

In his closing address on Tuesday, defence barrister David Funch told the jury: “It’s tragic that Anthony Stott is dead, but Lauren Grainger didn’t kill him.”

Anthony Stott.

Mr Funch said while it might sound callous, it was “lucky that half a dozen other people weren’t killed on that road” during Stott’s late-night drive on the M1.

“Because for the two-and-a-half hours or so that he was on it, he was driving like a complete lunatic,” he said.

Mr Funch told jurors they needed to consider if Ms Grainger acted in self-defence in a “very scary situation” when Stott arrived at the farm in the dark with “wild eyes”, dishevelled, barefoot, armed with a knife and looking “like a junkie”.

Stott had told Grainger, Frost and Button that he had robbed the house before and had been sent by his sister to rob again, Mr Funch said.

“It’s 3am and some chap walks into your house with a knife – who wrote the book on how you’re supposed to behave in a home invasion?” he asked the jury.

“Ironically, someone who’s the subject of a home invasion is now on trial accused of being a criminal kidnapper.

“Just because someone might be an idiot or not thinking clearly or panicked or whatever, it doesn’t mean they’re a kidnapper.

“Nothing about this case is normal. It’s completely bizarre and the situation with which they were confronted is quite extraordinary.

“Could they have handled it better? Yeah, absolutely.”

Mr Funch said Stott was “clearly mentally unwell” and had he been kept tied up for longer, “he probably might still be alive, which adds to the tragedy of it”.

He said Grainger had “absolutely lied” to police but that was only because she was “terrified” of being implicated in Stott’s death.

“It doesn’t mean you’re a kidnapper,” he said.

Lauren Grainger outside Lismore District Court

Earlier, in his closing address, Crown prosecutor Josh Hanna said the response by Grainger, Frost and Button was “completely over the top and unreasonable”.

He said the trio were “no doubt surprised” to see Stott at their back door in the middle of the night “but they reacted with complete suspicion”.

“They didn’t give him an opportunity to explain who he was or what he was doing there – they went completely overboard in their response,” Mr Hanna told the jury.

“In the completely wrong suspicion that he was there for sinister purposes, they restrained him, tied him up and conducted a drunken, violent interrogation over the next several hours.”

Mr Hanna said Grainger, Frost and Button said it seemed likely Stott was suffering an acute mental health episode or may have been tired, shaken and distressed after running off the road.

“There is no way she and the other two men should have treated Mr Stott the way they did,” he said, adding all had admitted they should have called police or an ambulance.

Mr Hanna said Grainger’s claim that Stott had a knife was “simply an invention by her”.

“There was no knife, it’s just something she made up,” he said.

Judge Jeffrey McLennan SC has begun his summing up and the jury was expected to retire to consider its verdict on Tuesday afternoon

THE TRIAL SO FAR

DAY 1: CHILLING DETAILS HEARD

DAY 2: HECTIC ENCOUNTER BEFORE DEATH

DAY 3: GOLF CLUB CLAIM ADDS MYSTERY

DAY 4: ‘STUPID’ ACT WAS ‘SELF-DEFENCE’

DAY 5: ACCUSED ‘DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO ACT’