Dean Porto, Scott and Andrew Buhagiar and Cameron Astill to be sentenced over kidnapping disabled stroke victim

The driver involved in the kidnapping of a disabled man who was chained to a tree and left for dead on the Central Coast “felt obligated to be at the scene”, a court has heard.

A former retained firefighter involved in the kidnapping of a disabled man over a drug debt is keen to leave the coast and turn his life around.

Dean Alexander Porto, 34, of Lake Munmorah appeared before Gosford District Court via audio visual link from jail on Friday for his sentence submissions.

Porto is one of four men that has pleaded guilty to a charge of taking or detaining a person in company with intent to obtain advantage.

The offence relates to the kidnapping of a stroke victim, who was wheelchair-bound, on January 13 2021 over a drug debt.

All four men, including cousins Scott James Buhagiar and Andrew Neil Buhagiar and Cameron Paul Astill, will be sentenced on Friday.

Sentence submissions for the Buhagiar cousins and Astill in July outlined the varying degrees of each man’s involvement in the matter.

During Porto’s submissions, his solicitor Brad Kernick told the court that Porto’s involvement in the matter placed him “at the bottom end” out of the four men with Astill’s involvement more serious.

“Astill introduces the victim to the co-offenders,” he said. “That part places Astill on a higher level.”

Mr Kernick said that while Porto was the driver during the incident, he was not behind the wheel for the drive between the BP in San Remo and bushland where the victim was left.

He said Mr Porto was the only driver’s licence holder among the four men.

Judge Tanya Bright responded saying “the fact that he drove … it doesn’t matter he was the only licensed driver”.

Porto was the driver for most of the time during the kidnapping.

“It was quite a significant role in the offending,” she said.

Mr Kernick said Porto suffered from PTSD and anxiety from his role as a retained firefighter between 2014-2017 after responding to a horrific car accident.

“Unfortunately Mr Porto like many others turned to alcohol then drugs … a vicious cycle,” he said.

The court heard Porto had a large financial debt to the Buhagiar cousins at the time of the offence.

“He felt obligated to be at the scene,” Mr Kernick said.

“He did nothing further in regards to taking himself away from the situation and he says he clearly should have.”

He said when released from custody, Mr Porto planned to move away from the Central Coast and work in construction. He also has the support of his family and partner.

Mr Kernick said he was keen to stay away from his past lifestyle and said he didn’t know the co-offenders well, “just due to the purchase of illicit substances”.

The Crown prosecutor said while Porto wasn’t the driver for the final leg of the offence, he was still part of the “joint enterprise”.

The drug debt argument was over the sale of “ice”.

However he agreed that Astill played a larger role as he located the victim for the men.

He said while Porto had taken positive steps to rehabilitate, a full time sentence of imprisonment was warranted.

An agreed set of facts on behalf of each offender states a 50-year-old man, who requires a wheelchair after suffering a stroke, travelled to the Central Coast in January 2021 and contacted Astill to see if he could buy some “ice”.

The facts state the victim “from time to time would create fraudulent lines of credit” which he on-sold to others for a portion of their value.

A few days prior Astill had introduced the victim to another man for the purposes of such a

sale but the man had not been able to activate the credit.

The facts state that on January 13 the Buhagiar cousins and Porto met up with Astill and the victim in a rented dual cab ute before driving the victim to the Dam Hotel.

The men bought a chain and padlocked the victim to a tree near Summerland Point.

The victim caught a taxi to a friend’s house before the Buhagiar cousins, Astill and Porto confronted him where they demanded he “fix the access codes” to the fraudulent line of credit and pay them $1200.

They drove him to Bunnings at Lake Haven where one of the men bought chain.

The facts state Andrew Buhagiar waved a taser at the victim who said “don’t tase me, I’ve got this, you’ll kill me” and pointed to his pacemaker.

“I don’t give a f..k, I’ll kill you right here, I’ll shoot you if I have to,” Andrew Buhagiar told him, lifting his shirt to reveal what appeared to be the butt of a revolver, the facts state.

They took him to the BP at Charmhaven where they purchased a bottle of water and some chips for the victim before driving towards Summerland Point.

The ute drove through a gate down a bush track before it stopped and the men dragged the victim from the vehicle.

Scott Buhagiar wrapped the chain through the victim’s chair, around his ankle and secured it with a padlock to a tree.

All four men will be sentenced in the Gosford District Court. Picture: David Swift

Andrew Buhagiar told the victim “you better hope that girl of yours has that money tomorrow or we’ll be back, and you won’t like it when we come back” before the four men left.

The facts state the victim bashed the chain with his walking stick to break free before using a metal bar from his wheelchair arm. He worked for 40 minutes before the chain gave way and he was able to free himself.

The man was still chained to his chair when he was discovered by someone four-wheel-driving in the area about 11.20pm.

The four men were arrested two days later on January 15 and have been in custody ever since. They will all be sentenced on September 2.