A woman who claims she was at the centre of an alleged eight-hour kidnapping says she was reluctant to initially report the incident to police out of concern for herself and her daughter. 

Brittany Jordan is back in the dock at the High Court at Hamilton today refuting claims from defence counsel that no crimes took place that night and she was able to leave whenever she liked. 

Hamilton man Troy Mudford, together with Shannon Jenifer Avery, 39, of Brightwater in Nelson and Maxine Danielle McWaters, 30, of Matamata are on trial defending four charges of aggravated robbery relating to the alleged theft of wallets, cellphones and clothing. 

They also each deny four charges of kidnapping, while Avery faces an additional charge of assault using a knife as a weapon. 

Mudford, 21, faces two additional charges of assault using a hammer as a weapon, threatening to kill, injuring with intent to injure, and demands with menaces property belonging to another victim with intent to steal it. 

They are accused of kidnapping, assaulting, robbing, and ordering two of them to strip and hug after a bungled cannabis purchase. 

Jordan testified that she and her partner Gavin Clasper, together with two other friends, were held hostage in a Rotokauri property from about 11pm January 16 last year till after 7am the following morning. 

She said yesterday that she feared for her life and was "waiting to die". 

Mudford's counsel Charles Bean this morning repeatedly put to Jordan that their reason to visit their friend "Rome", who was staying in the house, was simply to buy and smoke drugs. 

She refuted that suggestion, repeatedly, and was frustrated by the suggestion around drugs as they had only gone there initially to talk to Rome about a car that their friend was selling. 

Bean also pressed her about Mudford's movements that night, asking her how many times he had left the house. 

Jordan said he was "in and out" of the house all night and recalled him leaving with Clasper to go and try to withdraw some money out of an ATM. 

During that trip they also went to Clasper's parents' Hamilton home where her young daughter was sleeping on the lounge floor. 

Bean put to her that once they were freed, they took nearly an hour to call police because they wanted to "get their story straight". 

"We were discussing that we didn't want to [call police] ... because [Mudford] had stepped over my 4-year-old daughter and based on the fact we thought we were going to die. 

"By the time we got home, it took an extra 45 minutes to an hour to be convinced. 

"I had a threat against my baby ... and these guys were running around in a vehicle. For me, it was too personally close to risk calling the cops." 

Bean also disputed a statement in her affidavit that she was "covered in blood" afterwards, stating there had been no clothing photographed by police when they were interviewed later that day. 

"I had blood on my clothes at the police station. We all had individual medical reports done ... why would we make this up?" 

Bean disputed her timing of the alleged kidnapping – between 11pm and 7.30am – and told her Mudford's GPS tracker proved that he was travelling around other parts of the city during that time. 

She reiterated that they did arrive around 11pm and was unclear on timings as they all had their belongings, including phones, taken off them when they arrived, however, she recalled Mudford was "in and out" of the house. 

In questioning from Avery's lawyer Gerard Walsh, Jordan denied talking to Avery about their plans for the rest of the day. 

Walsh put to her that she told Avery that they were planning to "go and smoke meth" as she had someone looking after her daughter. 

Jordan denied that, stating that at no point did they discuss what their plans for the rest of the day were, "at all". 

She also denied talking about buying more drugs, "no, we had no money". 

However, in questioning by McWaters' lawyer Melissa James she accepted that she and her friend were taken outside to have a cigarette with McWaters and Avery after Mudford had left the house with Clasper. 

Jordan also stood by her testimony that she was forced to use milk and a cloth to wipe down fingerprints from a wheelie bin which she believed had been searched by the accused earlier that night. 

'Waiting for death to happen' 

Yesterday Jordan told the jury how she felt like she was waiting to die as Mudford allegedly stood behind her swinging a hammer violently around the room. 

She said she had never "had the feeling of waiting for death to happen" before. 

"Your whole body just tenses up and you're waiting." 

They were taken into a room and Jordan testified how the male was threatening to kill them the whole time. 

"They told us all to line up against the wall, cross our legs and put items of clothing over our heads. 

"I thought everything is going to go black now. I'm going to die." 

The trial, being overseen by Justice Pheroze Jagose, is likely to go into next week. 

- by Belinda Feek, Open Justice