Windsor Bridge: Kayla Kendrigan attackers jailed for kidnapping, assault
A judge has labelled the kidnapping and torture of a young disabled woman as “horrific” before jailing two of her attackers.
Blacktown
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A man and woman who kidnapped a young disabled woman and tortured her for more than eight hours before she was thrown off a bridge and left for dead, have been jailed.
Matthew James Leuthwaite, 23, and his former partner Brooke Levina Jane Brown, 20, admitted to abducting and assaulting 19-year-old Kayla Kendrigan with two teens, aged 16 and 17, on September 26, 2018.
The pair had previously pleaded guilty to detaining for advantage occasioning actual bodily harm and robbery in company after a charge of attempted murder was downgraded.
Ms Kendrigan suffered hours of physical and mental abuse after she was forced into the boot of a car in Rosemeadow and driven to a home in Whalan as “revenge” for calling one of the teens in the group a “dog” on social media.
At the home, she was tied to a chair and tortured, while Leuthwaite filmed the ordeal on his mobile phone.
The court heard Ms Kendrigan was stabbed in the legs, burnt with cigarette butts, had her hair cut off, her eyebrows shaved and was punched and kicked in the face repeatedly by the group.
At one point, Leuthwaite hit her with a 40cm wooden bat and choked her until she lost consciousness.
Brown stabbed a terrified Ms Kendrigan and threatened to kill her, while a three-year-old child slept in the house.
The group also threatened to cut her arm off if she told police. Ms Kendrigan, who is disabled, was born with a partial left arm.
After surviving hours of abuse, she was bundled into the boot of a car before being thrown 7.5 metres off the Windsor Bridge into the Hawkesbury River, at about 5.30am the following day.
Clinging to a bridge pylon, Ms Kendrigan managed to swim to the shore where she approached a house by the river and alerted the residents inside.
She suffered a string of injuries, including multiple stab wounds, burns, swelling to the head and extensive bruising to her face.
In sentencing at Penrith District Court today, Judge Mark Buscombe described the ordeal as “terrifying” and the group’s actions as “appalling”.
“The victim’s ordeal was a horrific one and will no doubt have some lasting impact on her,” Judge Buscombe said.
“It was unprovoked, gratuitous cruelty to a young woman who had a significant physical disability.”
Judge Buscombe dismissed claims from Brown that she was threatened by Leuthwaite to participate in the abuse.
He found that while the injuries inflicted were not the most serious, there was grave risk of death to Ms Kendrigan.
The court heard Leuthwaite was on a four-day ice bender and suffered mental health issues relating to physical and sexual abuse as a child.
A psychological report read to the court said Brown suffered from PTSD, anxiety and possibly had an intellectual disability.
Leuthwaite was sentenced to seven and a half years in jail, with a non-parole period of five years. He could be released as early as November 2023.
Brown was jailed six years and four months, with a non-parole period of two years and one month. She will be eligible for release in December 2022.
Outside of court, Ms Kendrigan told reporters she was unhappy with the sentences.
The teenagers will return to court on April 9.