Luke Sadler: Loganlea man guilty of GBH at Corinda home invasion

A Logan man has been jailed for his role in a Brisbane burglary which saw his victim savagely beaten with a baseball bat, requiring surgery.

A Logan man and three others arrived at a Brisbane address armed with a baseball bat and .22 rifle to mete out a savage “vigilante” style beating in return for a purported assault on a female friend.

Loganlea man Luke Noel Sadler, 29, pleaded guilty in Brisbane District Court on Wednesday to grievous bodily harm, unlawful use of a motor vehicle, and burglary in company armed with an offensive instrument.

The court heard the offences occurred over five days in September 2019, less than a month after a previous parole period of one year and 10 months, imposed for dozens of driving and dishonesty-type offences, expired.

Sadler’s offending commenced by stealing a car from a friend on September 18, 2019.

He told her he was just running a friend up the road but then never returned.

Then, on September 23, he and three accomplices, two of whom have still not been identified by police, drove to a mutual friend’s house at Corinda, with the intention of telling the friend to kick out his tenant, who they believe had sexually assaulted a woman at Marsden.

Loganlea man Luke Noel Sadler, 29. Picture: Facebook

The owner and the complainant were sitting in the living room when at about 12.20pm they heard commotion outside and saw Sadler and his three accomplices parked in the driveway with the car’s bonnet popped.

Sadler yelled up they had overheated the engine and requested water be brought down, the court heard.

There was a brief verbal confrontation between the group and the owner before two of them, not including Sadler, barged upstairs to confront the complainant.

Upstairs, the complainant was threatened with the baseball bat and a .22 rifle, before the accomplice armed with the baseball bat administered a savage beating.

The complainant suffered “significant injuries” including a compound fracture to his right forearm which required surgery, as well as bruising to his head, legs and torso.

Sadler was arrested when police identified the vehicle as being involved in a fuel drive-off earlier that day and then linked it to the vehicle owner’s complaint against Sadler for stealing it.

He was arrested on December 31, 2019 and has spent the intervening period, a total of 477 days, remanded in pre-sentence custody.

Sadler told police the baseball bat belonged to him and he kept it in the car for protection, as he was homeless at the time and sleeping in the stolen vehicle.

He denied going to the Corinda address with the intention of hurting anyone.

The offending was described to the court as a serious “vigilante home invasion”.

Judge Orazio Rinaudo sentenced Sadler to two years and eight months’ imprisonment with immediate court-ordered parole, in light of the fact he had already spent 16 months in custody.

Sadler will not be released until he is sentenced in the Magistrates Court for other driving-related matters stemming from his September 2019 offending.

The court heard he will live with his partner in Mackay upon his release.

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