Two men hired to carry out a stranger’s sexual fantasy of being tied up while clad in his underpants went to the wrong NSW rural address with machetes but politely left after realising their mistake.

One of the Sydney men, Terrence Leroy, has been found not guilty in the NSW District Court of entering the home in July 2019 intending to intimidate while armed with an offensive weapon.

Describing the facts of the case as unusual, Judge Sean Grant said the Crown hadn’t excluded the reasonable possibility that Mr Leroy entered the house as part of a lawful plan to carry out a sexual fantasy.

“They carried the machetes either as a prop or something to use in that fantasy,” the judge said in his published reasons for the acquittal earlier in May.

“The fantasy was unscripted and there was discretion as to how it would be carried out.”

According to statements tendered at the brief judge-alone trial, a man living in Goolgowi, in western NSW near Griffith, wanted to be tied up and have a broom handle rubbed around his underwear.

“He was willing to pay $5000 if it was ‘really good’,” the judge said.

The would-be client had a “history and proclivity for engaging the services of people”, a police officer said.

After making arrangements with a man on Facebook for people to engage in the role play, he sent his address – which he later updated after moving to another home.

But on July 14, a resident living in the same street as the first address noticed some light coming from his lounge room when he got up to go to the toilet.

Assuming it was a friend who came daily to make a coffee, he yelled out “Bugger off, it’s too early”.

After hearing a voice ask if his name was that of the intended client, the resident turned on his bedside light, took off his sleep apnoea mask, and saw two men standing next to his bed.

They carried machetes pointed down towards the ground.

They started to leave after he told them his name – which was not that of the intended client.

One man apologised, saying “Sorry mate”, and shook the resident’s hand, while the other said “Bye” before they drove off. The resident then contacted the police.

When the men and their driver arrived at the correct address, the would-be customer noticed one had a “great big knife” in his pants, which he put in the car after being told not to bring it inside.

They had coffee and the client made bacon, eggs and noodles before Mr Leroy fell asleep on the couch.

Police turned up soon after and found the machetes in the car.

The judge said the Crown had proved Mr Leroy was one of the men who entered the first house with a machete – but had not proved that his intention had been to intimidate.

Mr Leroy’s barrister successfully submitted the entry was for a non-criminal purpose.

“It was a commercial agreement to tie up and stroke a semi-naked man in his underpants with a broom,” the lawyer said.

-AAP