Cairns crime: Yarnis Tuterangi Mehana pleads guilty to four charges over missing woman

Police launched a helicopter search for a missing woman after her former partner ‘kidnapped’ her and forced her to work on a farm, Cairns District Court heard on Friday.

A MAN who ‘kidnapped’ his former partner and forced her to work 11-hour shifts as a farm labourer was sentenced in Cairns District Court on Friday.

The court heard the woman was reported missing on November 16 last year and tracked down on a Dimbulah farm via a police helicopter three days later.

Yarnis Tuterangi Mehana, 52, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning bodily harm, attempting to pervert the course of justice, and two counts of contravening a domestic violence order.

Sentencing Mr Mehana two a two-year prison sentence, to be suspended after 210 days with two years’ probation, Judge Paul Smith said the breach DVO was one of the most serious he had seen and that Mr Mehana’s behaviour was controlling and he clearly had anger management problems.

“He basically kidnapped this lady, it was a controlling relationship, he took her and forced her to work at a lime farm and police treated her as a missing person,” Judge Smith said.

A helicopter search on the Atherton Tablelands was launched after a woman was reported missing in November 2021 after her former partner breached a domestic violence order.

“If he breaches parole it will come down on him like a ton of bricks.”

Prosecutor Lauren Hall told the court Mr Mehana had a domestic violence history that was “escalating quite rapidly”, he had done two prison stints, had previously tried to run a woman over with his car, and he was on probation at the time of the offence.

“It was a controlling act of indifference and disobedience of court orders,” she said.

Defence barrister James Sheridan said his client had “issues concerning anger”.

Judge Smith noted Mr Mehana had emailed a Southport court pretending to be the complainant, seeking to vary the DVO order.

“You found her at Mission Beach and she got in the car out of fear, you told her she would be working on the lime farm and then threw out her belongings,” Judge Smith said.

When police approached on the road, Mr Mehana pushed the woman’s head down so she would not be seen.

He “believed his love for her outweighed the DVO conditions”.

The pair slept in the car and in the morning Mr Mehana verbally abused her and kicked her in the shin.

Originally published as Cairns crime: Yarnis Tuterangi Mehana pleads guilty to four charges over missing woman