WA jury discharged over extortion trial

A Perth jury has been discharged after failing to reach a verdict on whether three Estonian men tried to extort money from two countrymen who came to Australia to work as welders.

Andres Tamleht, Allar Ahtmann and Marko Stolts had been on trial in the West Australian District Court accused of forcing welders Indrek Veevo and Alari Leidsalu to enter into an agreement to repay a $25,000 "loan".

Tamleht had also been accused of forcing the pair into a debt bondage agreement by demanding they pay a large portion of their wages to him, but those two charges were thrown out by Judge Ronald Birmingham during the trial.

The jury deliberated for almost two days but was discharged on Friday after failing to reach verdicts on the extortion charges.

The trio also faced charges of forcing the welders to hand over their passports.

Tamleht and Stolts were acquitted of those charges, but Ahtmann was found guilty and will face a sentencing hearing in February.

They were all released on bail until a trial listing hearing in December.