Bunker-in-the-bush kidnap accused John Arthur Burrett has told of waiting for imaginary friends, and conversations with ducks.


After a day of tense exchanges on Thursday, crown prosecutor Kenneth Stone continued to cross-examine Burrett in the High Court at Wellington yesterday.

Burrett, 53, and his nephew, Matthew Norman Payne, 22, are charged with conspiracy to kidnap businessman Bill Trotter with intent to hold him for ransom or with intent to confine him, and having a shotgun.

Burrett and Payne deny the charges, and say the whole scheme was part of an elaborate game they were playing. Burrett, who is defending himself, says he and Payne often played games that involved dreaming up plans they never intended to put into action.

Yesterday, Mr Stone asked him about transcripts from intercepted cellphone conversations. In one, taped on July 18 when the Crown alleges Burrett and Payne went to kidnap Mr Trotter only to find he was not home, Burrett says "our friends" are not in, and he will wait half an hour and try again.

Mr Stone said "our friends" referred to Mr Trotter and his wife, a claim Burrett strenuously denied. He said the term related to "abstract" people, who did not exist.

Mr Stone: "You were going to wait another half hour to see if these make-believe people would come back?"

Burrett: "Yes."

Mr Stone: "You expect the jury to believe that?"

Burrett: "Yes. I hope so."

Mr Stone: "And 15 minutes later, the people who didn't exist were still not in?"

Burrett: "Yes."

Burrett said the whole conversation happened while he was beside the duck pond in the Botanic Gardens, where he would often go to talk to ducks. He said that at the time of the conversation, he had been chatting to a female duck.

"Joking aside, female ducks respond extremely well to conversations. They will answer you back.

"You may think I'm crazy . . . they will talk . . . male ducks, drakes, won't do it – they stand at the back and quack."