THE barrister for a Hunter developer accused of stealing two air conditioning units from a residential construction site after a building company abandoned a job near Maitland has told court there is no evidence his client had ever set foot on the site.
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But the prosecution argues that Daniel Roberts, who has been charged with one count of larceny, is the person who took the air conditioners in 2017. Mr Roberts has pleaded not guilty.
A Maitland Local Court hearing on Friday heard that Phillip Kapeller enlisted a building company through Mr Roberts in 2015 to construct a new home at Gillieston Heights.
Mr Kapeller told the court a dispute developed between himself and the company as the builder falsely claimed to be hitting milestones. It escalated to the point the construction crew abandoned the site in March 2017.
Mr Kapeller said he returned from work in Western Australia to find the front door and garage of the partly completed home open and all equipment - including two air conditioners he had bought for installation - taken.
The court heard evidence that the company told Mr Kapeller the air conditioners would be returned when a mutually beneficial financial agreement was reached.
Police found the air conditioners at a Wallsend unit block where Mr Roberts was working in early 2021.
Police prosecutor John Brissett said Mr Kapeller and his wife believed Mr Roberts was the person in charge of the building job, though the court heard he had signed the construction certificate not as the builder but as a witness.
"He was responsible for everything that happened on that site," Mr Brissett said.
"He was the person they spoke to on the day the agreement went bad, he was the person who was in negotiating with them before that.
"Simply, those air conditioning units were supplied to the builder ... then on the day it went bad, everything was taken.
"He could have just left them there at that stage, locked the house up ... but he didn't, he took them."
Mr Roberts' barrister Daniel Pace said it was not contested that the air conditioners were taken - but the identity of who took them was in dispute.
"In this case there is no evidence whatsoever [Mr Roberts] was present at the property at Gillieston Heights," he said.
"There is no evidence whatsoever that Daniel Roberts has even ever stepped foot on the Gillieston Heights property.
"What we don't know is where items were stored during this time [between being taken from Gillieston Heights and appearing at Wallsend], how it ended up at the new property and who put it there."
The local court hearing is dealing only with the larceny charge over the air conditioners, but the court heard details on Friday of the dispute that led to the builder abandoning the site and Mr Kapeller pursuing the company through the District Court and NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Magistrate Ron Maiden adjourned the matter to June 30 to hand down his ruling.
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