Updated November 21, 2023:
A jury has found two 20-year-olds guilty of an aggravated carjacking in the Victorian County Court.
Fletcher McGuire and Aiden Gray had both pleaded not guilty to a single charge of aggravated carjacking, which related to an incident at the Canadian Lookout on September 29, 2022.
After deliberating for less than a day, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all charges.
Earlier:
Judge Frank Gucciardo has discharged the jury in the criminal trial of two men accused of an armed carjacking at the Canadian lookout.
Fletcher McGuire, 20, and Aiden Gray 20, are both facing a single charge of aggravated carjacking in relation to an alleged incident on September 29, 2022.
The trial started on November 9, 2023, but after three days, it was decided the jury should be discharged.
A new jury will be empaneled on Wednesday, November 15, 2023.
Earlier:
The trial has begun for two men accused of a midnight armed carjacking at the Canadian lookout.
Fletcher McGuire, 20, and Aiden Gray, 20, both appeared at the County Court in Ballarat on Thursday, November 9, for the first day of hearings over an alleged incident in 2022.
Both face a single charge of aggravated carjacking and pleaded not guilty.
At the hearing the jury heard the opening addresses from the crown prosecutor and barristers representing the pair.
The carjacking was alleged to have taken place on the morning of September 29, 2022, just after midnight.
It was alleged McGuire and Gray, armed with a wheel brace and knife, opened the door of a 2004 Holden Commodore parked at the lookout and pulled the driver from the seat, demanding he hand over the keys.
A Ballarat man and his girlfriend were in the car at the time of the alleged carjacking, parked alongside two friends in another car at the lookout.
During the alleged carjacking, one of the men were alleged to have told the man, "I will stab you 70 times" if he did not hand over the keys.
In his opening statement, prosecutor Richard Pirrie read a summary of the alleged offending and went through some of the evidence to be presented in full during the trial.
The jury heard the prosecutor would tender CCTV and phone footage purporting showing McGuire and Gray in the stolen Commodore after the alleged incident.
The pair were allegedly caught on CCTV visiting a Caltex service station with the stolen vehicle later that morning.
The vehicle was found in Clunes on September 30, 2022, completely burnt out.
McGuire and Gray were arrested by police on October 1, 2022, at an Essendon motel on Bulla Road and taken to the Bacchus Marsh police station.
Barristers representing McGuire and Gray told the jury the main issue at trial was regarding the identity of the men involved in the alleged carjacking.
Prosecution called forward the stolen car's owner and his girlfriend as witnesses at Thursday's hearing.
Both were questioned by the crown prosecutor and barristers about the exact sequence of events leading up to, during and after the alleged incident.
The man told the court he had been sitting in his car with his girlfriend when the driver's side door was opened and he was pulled from the vehicle.
From there, the man said alleged he was threatened with a knife by one of the men, and made to fetch his car keys, which had fallen into the passenger side footwell.
The man's girlfriend said during the encounter, she had placed both their phones and her purse under her jumper before leaving the car.
She said they were told to go inside of their friend's car, which sat nearby, and wait as the two men made off with their vehicle.
The hearing was adjourned until Friday, where barristers for McGuire and Gray will cross-examine the woman.
