Melissa Feary, Michael Scott Brown, Luke Ballard face Taree court on bizarre kidnapping charges

A trio allegedly kidnapped a Mid-North Coast man and bound him to a sign with his pants off after he sent messages saying two of them were “ripping people off”, a court heard.

Taree courthouse

A trio allegedly kidnapped a man and bound him to a street sign with his pants off after he sent messages saying two of them were “ripping people off”, a court heard.

The case returned to Taree Local Court this week, where one of the three, Melissa Feary, appeared in person after recently being granted bail.

Co-accused men Michael Arthur Scott Brown and Luke Joshua Ballard have been remanded in custody and they faced the court over videolink.

Feary, 40, spent almost four months behind bars, remanded in custody, on charges including supplying drugs, kidnapping in company and assaulting a police officer following the alleged bizarre incident in March this year.

Police allege the man was kidnapped and held for some time by the trio between 4am and 6am on March 13.

Melissa Feary. Picture: Facebook.

The victim was allegedly driven to Nabiac and secured to a sign with cable ties and gaffer tape. A local businessman found the man and alerted police hours later.

On July 5, Feary was granted bail by the Supreme Court.

Justice Faulkner said: “The heart of the charges arise out of events on March 13, 2024 when (Ms Feary), in company with two men, put another man in the boot of a Commodore and drove him to the main street and sticky taped him to a pole half naked.”

Police allege the man was kidnapped to dissuade him from speaking to officers and that Feary recorded it on her phone and could be heard laughing.

In June, a bail application made by Feary was unsuccessful. Taree Local Court heard Feary’s criminal activity was confined to the last few years – since the age of about 38 – and was largely a product of a struggle with drugs.

Taree Magistrate John Chicken said he recognised Feary suffered from a “raging drug habit” at the time of alleged offending.

He said methamphetamines, an addictive stimulant known commonly as ice, was “tearing the heart out” of communities like Taree and Feary had been “sucked into its vortex”.

“I could go down to the pub dressed as I am now (in a black magistrate robe) and score meth,” Mr Chicken said at the time.

He refused bail and said there was no plan before him outlining Feary’s rehabilitation if she ended up being released from custody on remand into the community.

Her partner at the time and co-accused, Brown, has been charged with kidnapping in company and supplying drugs, while Ballard has been charged with kidnapping in company.

Their cases have been adjourned to October 14, while Feary’s matter returns to court on August 26.

The three have not entered pleas.

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