Leeville man Jerome Burston in court over detaining two people

Bizarre circumstances behind a shipping container kidnapping, in which two men were locked on a remote property near Casino have emerged.

A Richmond Valley man who kidnapped two men in bizarre circumstances has pleaded guilty.

Leeville man Jerome Burston, 54, entered pleas of guilty to two charges of detaining a person with intent to obtain an advantage in Lismore Local Court on Wednesday.

According to the set of agreed Director of Public Prosecution facts, Burston kidnapped two men known to him and locked them inside a shipping container on his Clearfield property for around 3-4 hours on July 11 last year.

Court documents state Burston told one victim he had work for him on his property while he texted the other man that “I’ve got live bait here for you. I’ve fed him and given him a shower he’s having a sleep.”

In response the second man told Burston he was coming and arrived about 8pm.

At that time, the second man hopped into a red Subaru with the first victim, another man and Burston and the four drove for about 550m before Burston pulled over, opened the boot and pointed to spanners and other tools, court documents state.

Burston told the second man that the first “tampered with ya niece”.

However, all four smoked without issue before heading to the shipping container.

Inside the container, there was a mattress and a bottle of water and the second man began smoking bongs and using the laptop he had brought with him.

According to the facts, after some time, Burston and the other man left the container and shut the door.

At first both men assumed Burston would return but the second man couldn’t send messages due to insufficient reception, court documents state.

Poking his phone through a hole, the victim sent a message to his mother and she and his sister arrived at the property where they let both victims out of the container.

A month later, Burston contacted a NSW Police detective on August 5 stating “I’ve done something bad. I put two blokes in the boot of a car and drove them out to the block and locked them in a shipping container.” the documents state.

Burston told police he had done it to “teach them a lesson” so they would leave his family alone.

He told them he assumed family members would rescue the victims and that both were “too busy watching (porn on the laptop) and wanking” they didn’t notice Burston pull down the latch, documents state.

While Burston initially denied sending the ‘live bait’ text he subsequently agreed with police he may have sent them.

Appearing via videolink on Wednesday, Burston heard the matter would be taken to Lismore District Court for sentence on June 6.