Victim of kidnapping and assault says he lives in terror and cannot return home to Adelaide

A MAN, who was kidnapped, tied up and beaten before being bundled into the boot of a car, has told how the crime has ruined his life and forced him from Adelaide.

Simon James Murphy outside the District Court, after facing sentencing submissions for kidnapping and assault charges.

A MAN, who was kidnapped, tied up and beaten before being bundled into the boot of a car, has told how the crime has ruined his life and forced him from Adelaide.

The man in his early 20s, who cannot be identified, was lured to a Morphett Vale location just after midnight on August 26, 2014 by Simon James Murphy.

Murphy, 37, tied up the man with rope and assaulted him before driving to the nearby home of Hayley Carter, who also assaulted the victim with her fists.

Murphy and Carter, 30, pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping and aggravated assault, while a third man, Anthony Wells, pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated assault.

Prosecutor Stephen Plummer said Wells had punched the victim after Murphy and Carter brought him to his home.

The court heard Murphy had spent days arranging for another man to bring the victim to him, before he was assaulted and tied up.

Police intercepted Murphy’s vehicle about two hours after the kidnapping and found the victim in the boot wrapped in a bed sheet with injuries including bleeding on the brain and a broken nose.

Wells, 37, was a former member of the Mongols Motorcycle Club, however the court heard he had since been kicked out of the gang.

Wells was originally also charged with kidnapping but that charge was dropped by prosecutors along with charges against three other men.

His lawyer, Anthony Allen, said Wells had struck the victim out of frustration because he was angry he had been brought to his Seaford Rise home while he was subject to bail curfew conditions.

Mr Allen urged District Court judge Simon Stretton to sentence Wells as soon as possible because he had spent 17 months in custody on the charges, including the past two months in a maximum security cell at Yatala Labour Prison.

“Every day he spends in custody, arguably, may be one he does not need to spend,” he said.

Mr Allen said Wells was eager to straighten out his life upon his release and return to the workforce.

The court heard a statement tendered by the victim, in which he spoke of the incident “ruining” his life.

“I had to move away, leaving my family behind ... I had to do this to get away from these people and who they are associated with,” he wrote.

“I will always be looking behind my back ... I mainly suffer from fear and have had headaches ever since.”

Mr Plummer said while the victim told police he and Murphy were involved in the illicit drug trade, prosecutors could not identify a motive other than Murphy’s belief that the man was “a dog”.

Judge Stretton will sentence Wells next month and Murphy and Carter will be sentenced at a later date.