Daniel Bland and Brad Roberts plead guilty to false imprisonment and assault

A court has been told the victim overheard his captors’ plotting to murder him as they tried to gouge out his eye with a spoon.

A man was bound, bashed with a golf club while his captors tried to gauge out his eye with a spoon during a terrifying hostage ordeal, a court heard.

Daniel Wayne Bland, 29, and Brad Andrew Roberts, 30, were high on methamphetamine when they left a man fearing he would be killed, according to a victim impact statement read to the District Court on Thursday by prosecutor Keryn Park.

The victim said his eye continues to get bloodshot every few weeks and he has a constant blur from when Bland tried to dig it out with a spoon.

The court heard Bland hit the victim numerous times in the face and leg with a golf club, causing him to lose three teeth. He also tried to suffocate him with a plastic bag.

Daniel Bland pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and assault. Photo: Facebook

The court heard Roberts punched and kicked the victim many times.

“I’m afraid of everyone I see … I struggle to get to sleep as I am alert with every creak and sound, worried that someone is coming to kill and dispose of me,” the victim said.

The victim said his elderly mother almost collapsed when she heard the news that he was in hospital after the assault.

“I could imagine the horror for me as she has already had to attend the funerals of two of her children,” he said.

“I honestly do believe that if I had not the strength and courage to get free of the duct tape and rope … that I would not be here today.”

The victim said he could hear Bland speaking with the others about stabbing him, tying him to the jetty and letting the tide come in and drown him.

“I can never forgive or forget his actions or his plan to murder me,” the victim said.

Bland, of Adelaide and Roberts, of Moorook, pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and assault causing harm, relating to the offending in January 2023.

The court heard the men’s co-accused, Chloe Watkins, 25, had pleaded not guilty to the charges but was currently at large after missing her last court date.

Stacey Carter, for Bland, told the court her client had been using drugs the day of the offending when they saw the victim in the street.

The court heard Bland believed the victim had sexually assaulted a woman known to him, but Judge Simon Stretton said he couldn’t accept that claim unless there was evidence produced to the court.

The court heard Bland, who had previously worked as a tattoo artist, had written an apology letter to the victim.

Phoebe Foster-Richardson, for Roberts, told the court her client was at the peak of his drug addiction during the offending.

The court heard Roberts, who was a father-of-two, had no desire to return to drug use and was not beyond redemption.

Judge Simon Stretton told Bland and Roberts to try and stop taking meth, as it wrecks people’s lives.

He will sentence the duo at a later date.