KEY POINTS:
The men accused of the alleged Pakiri kidnapping were found not guilty last night.
The verdict, delivered at 10.50pm, was met by quiet gasps of relief from the wife and father of one of the defendants, Richard Kroon.
"Oh thank God for that. The nightmare is over, " Mr Kroon snr said to his daughter-in-law Caroline, as Judge David Wilson, QC, discharged Richard Kroon and co-accused Craig Weller.
They had waited in holding cells within the Auckland District Court during the jury's deliberation of almost 10 hours.
The two men were accused of kidnapping Kroon's business partner Kim Spencer at Pakiri on 16 November 2004 and forcing him to sign documents that could have gained Kroon up to $3 million. Both men were red-eyed but contained.
"You all right love?" Mr Kroon asked his wife before receiving a hug from his father-in-law.
Asked whether he was expecting the verdict, Richard Kroon said, "No, you don't expect any verdict."
In his summing-up, Judge Wilson told the jury that "perhaps the real issue was, 'Did it happen?' "
This is not the first time that the evidence of complainant Kim Spencer has not been accepted by a court.
Ten years ago in a case related to Mr Spencer's bankruptcy, a High Court judge said in his judgment that "Mr Spencer did not tell me the truth" in relation to what had happened to $200,000 the Official Assignee believed had been hidden from creditors.
"Mr Spencer struck me as a weak individual.
"His evidence lacked any precision or recall ... he showed little sense of fiscal or moral responsibility," the judge said at the time.
In the kidnapping case, Mr Kroon's lawyer, Paul Davison, QC, told the jury Mr Spencer had invented the allegations in an attempt to avoid an obligation to pay Mr Kroon up to $3 million on a deal done behind his back and contrary to their joint venture obligations.
Former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick and retired judge Michael Lance gave evidence in support of Mr Kroon's character.
Mr Kroon told the Herald after last night's verdict that it was too early to say exactly how he felt.
"It's a complex situation because of what [Kim Spencer] is still doing," he said.
"He should have been stopped years ago."
The judge commended counsel and jurors for their efforts and told jury members they could be excused service in the future it they wished.
