Anthony Stott trial: Accused kidnapper ‘didn’t know how to act in a home invasion’

A woman accused of kidnapping a Brisbane private school teacher in the hours before his death has told a court “he just looked crazy”.

The northern NSW farm where Anthony Stott was allegedly detained

A woman accused of kidnapping Brisbane private school teacher Anthony Stott hours before his bizarre death says he was armed with a knife, “just looked crazy” and “we didn’t know how to act in a home invasion”.

Lauren Grainger told Lismore District Court: “It was frightening, it was scary, it was crazy.”

Stott, 43, was killed by a semi-trailer on the M1 in February 2020 after being held captive at a Cudgera Creek farm in northern NSW.

Anthony Stott at school French Week celebrations

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.

The St Peters Lutheran College teacher then wandered onto 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--k he was there”, Lismore District Court has been told.

Grainger, 41, has pleaded not guilty to the aggravated kidnapping of Stott.

Her co-accused, ex-partner Mark Frost and Craig Button, pleaded guilty earlier this year and were given reduced sentences to testify against her, the jury has heard.

Judge Jeffrey McLennan SC on Friday directed jurors to find Grainger not guilty of causing Stott bodily harm with a golf club, but said they now had to determine if she kidnapped him to gain information.

Giving evidence in her own defence on Monday, Grainger said she was not involved in the decision to tie up and detain Stott, blaming “the boys” (Frost and Button).

“I thought he was there to harm us, like, hurt us or rob us,” she told the court.

“He just looked crazy and he had a knife in his hand.

“We were just trying to restrain him for our safety.

“We didn’t know what to do, we didn’t know how to act in a home invasion.”

STOTT 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’

Under cross-examination by her barrister David Funch, instructed by Howden Saggers Lawyers, Grainger said Stott was not detained for any sinister purpose.

“We just wanted to know his name (and) how he got there so we could get someone to come and get him,” she said.

Grainger was grilled by Crown prosecutor Josh Hanna, who suggested she was the ringleader and had tried to minimise her involvement, made up the story about the knife and had actually struck Stott with the golf club.

Grainger denied this but admitted: “We just handled it badly.”

“We should have just called the cops … he (Stott) was not (mentally) well,” she told the court.

“We should have just called an ambulance, unfortunately, to get him the help that he needed. We didn’t know what to do.”

After a six-day trial, Mr Hanna and Mr Funch are expected to make their closing addresses on Tuesday before the judge sums up and the jury retires to consider a verdict.