A woman told the court that she was terrorised by a group of men trying to get money from a lawyer accused of theft.

The witness, who cannot be identified because of reporting restrictions set by the court, said she begged Tyrone Quinn to deal with whatever issue he had with the men after they had threatened her and her family and even struck her with a firearm, demanding to know where he was.

She told the Supreme Court that she initially suggested that Mr Quinn bring the issue to the police, but he had told her it “wasn’t an option”.

“I didn’t understand until I lived it. Then I understood why,” she said.

Mr Quinn, 37, faces three counts of theft totalling $483,000 after he failed to hand over compensation payments awarded to three of his clients.

The offences are alleged to have taken place between May 2020 and February 2021.

Mr Quinn has denied the offences and told the court that he had been extorted by gangsters who threatened his and his family’s lives.

He told the court that he was initially approached by two men in 2019 over a “problem” related to an illegal business transaction and that they demanded compensation.

Mr Quinn said he did not know the men or their “problem” but that he yielded to their demands out of fear for his family, paying them thousands of dollars and making payments on their behalf.

As the trial continued yesterday, a defence witness recalled that sometime in 2020 she had gone to Mr Quinn’s home after she was unable to reach him.

When she was leaving his home, she noticed a bike with two men on it near by and, when she drove away, the men followed her.

She said that she began to panic and drove faster, overtaking other vehicles, only for the men on the motorcycle to race alongside her.

“I see the guy on the bike had his hand up, and I knew from there he had a gun,” she said.

She told the court that she drove into a roundabout and remained in it, driving around the circle a number of times, stalling traffic until the men rode off.

She then parked outside a police station and considered speaking to officers, but decided against it as she was concerned for her safety.

“It would have been different if the police had seen what happened,” she said. “If I had told them, it’s my life, my family at jeopardy.”

She said she was later with Mr Quinn when one of the men approached them from behind. She told the court that Mr Quinn went into the building with the man.

When they came out, she said Mr Quinn did not say anything about what had happened.

The witness described another incident in which one of the men confronted her outside of her own home.

She said the man pulled out a gun, asked where Mr Quinn was and “slapped” her in the face with the firearm, threatening to kill her.

While she said the men harassing her suggested that she was “covering up” for Mr Quinn, at the time she herself was still having difficulty reaching him.

“The situation had nothing to do with me and everyone else whose life was getting to be in trouble because of what he was going through,” she told the court.

“The stress became a lot. It became unbearable.”

She testified that Mr Quinn had shown her WhatsApp messages he had received threatening him and his family and, as the situation continued, she also started to receive similar messages.

Under cross-examination by Alan Richards, for the Crown, the witness said there were at least three men, although she refused to identify them.

She added that the harassment continued for years and only completely ceased by late 2022.

The witness said she was thankful for assistance Mr Quinn had provided her over the years, but maintained that she was before the court to speak truthfully about what happened to her.

The trial continues.

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