Couple Crystal Rigg, James Ryall admit to kidnapping, beating intellectually disabled woman

An intellectually disabled woman pleaded “you don’t understand what he done to me” as she was filmed naked after being kidnapped and beaten.

• Champion Newcastle boxer facing drug driving charge
• Wage protest: Hunter nurses find wage rise ‘insulting’

A couple has admitted to kidnapping and beating an intellectually disabled woman over a number of days, capturing some of the assaults on video.

Crystal Rigg and James Ryall each pleaded guilty in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday to stalking/intimidation; two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in company; and intentionally recording an intimate image without consent.

Ryall also pleaded guilty to two counts of contravening an apprehended domestic violence order, which were treated as related charges.

James Ryall accused of repeatedly assaulting a woman with an intellectual disability, before kidnapping her Credit: Facebook

Court documents revealed Ryall, 37, Rigg, 32, and a third person, Amy Palmer, 24, drove the victim from her Windale home to a home in Springfield on the Central Coast, on October 8 last year.

The documents said the trio told the 20-year-old woman she would be at the home for about four days and left, returning with a fourth person, Caine Goffet, 27, on October 11.

In the documents police allege all four people took turns beating the woman, leaving her with a bloodied nose and bruised face.

She was then put into a shower where Rigg filmed the woman naked.

“You don’t understand what he done to me, he hurt me,” the woman said in the recording.

“Yeah, why did you go running to the coppers?” Rigg asked.

“Because the (inaudible) aren’t registered anyway,” the woman said.

Crystal Rigg allegedly assaulted the woman numerous times after she was kidnapped. Credit: Facebook

“Unregistered devices,” Rigg responded. “Don’t give a f**k c**t. My dad had one you lying little c**t. My dad’s got one in the house because James has seen it. When you get out I’ll beat the f**k out of ya. Wash yourself with that f**king soap right, because you’re a dirty f**king s***k.”

The court documents said a second recording showed the woman wearing only a towel while being beaten or having objects thrown at her.

A third recording showed Rigg repeatedly punching and shouting at the woman.

The documents allege Rigg, Ryall, Palmer and Goffet pulled the woman from a car three days later on October 14, taking her to bushland near Wallsend where they beat her again.

The four people were charged after the woman revealed her alleged ordeal to a friend and was taken for hospital treatment.

Rigg and Ryall remain on bail, while Palmer and Goffet have yet to enter pleas for their alleged roles. All four will return to court next month.

EARLIER

Pair charged in terrifying kidnapping ordeal

By Amy Ziniak on June 11, 2021

A Hunter man on bail and a Sydney woman who police allege repeatedly assaulted and punched an intellectually disabled woman during a terrifying kidnapping ordeal that lasted for a number of hours, were trying to get her to withdraw a sexual assault complaint, according to court documents.

Police allege the 20-year-old was sitting in the passenger side of a vehicle stopped at the traffic lights on the Pacific Highway, near Charlestown, on Wednesday night when James Peter Ryall, 37, and Crystal Gay Rigg, 38, grabbed her.

Police allege the pair, who were known to the woman, dragged her into their car with two other people and drove off, where she was allegedly assaulted and had her credit cards stolen.

The vehicle eventually stopped on George Booth Drive at West Wallsend, where Rigg allegedly dragged her out of the car and again assaulted her.

She was then forced back into the vehicle and driven to a home in Windale where she was dragged into the shower and repeatedly assaulted while being filmed, before it was uploaded on social media, police allege.

Court documents revealed that police alleged the ordeal lasted until about 1am on Thursday.

Parramatta Police were alerted to the video by concerned members of the community before the footage was seized and Lake Macquarie Police began an investigation.

Police rushed to a Windale home, where the 20-year-old was being treated by paramedics before being taken to Belmont hospital in a stable condition.

At around 7.30am, Rigg and Ryall were arrested at a Gateshead home on Box Place, where a number of items and a vehicle were seized for forensic testing.

Ryall was charged with nine offences, including robbery, detaining a person, assault, breaching an AVO, stalking and intimidation and filming a person (in a private act) without consent.

Ryall did not apply for bail at Belmont Local Court on Friday. Credit: Facebook

Rigg was charged with seven offences including robbery, assault and filming a person without consent.

Some of the charges also relate to an alleged assault at Springfield three days earlier.

Both appeared via video link at Belmont Local Court on Friday to face the charges.

Ryall briefly appeared as his solicitor Lee Warneke quickly adjourned the matters, noting she was set to make an application for bail next Friday.

The court also heard Ryall was in breach of bail, regarding another matter which related to the same alleged victim.

Rigg however did apply for bail, Ms Warneke telling the court her client was suffering from an intellectual disability and believed it may have had some bearing on the alleged incident.

“She can’t read or write, she is medicated for possible bi-polar but hasn’t been taking them for some time which has contributed to the worsening of her mental health,” she said.

Rigg applied for bail but it was refused by Magistrate Roger Prowse at Belmont Local Court on Friday. Credit: Facebook

She said her client could live with her father in Campbelltown, Sydney, “far from Newcastle” and would not leave the house without him, as well as complying with a mental health plan.

Magistrate Roger Prowse said the Crown had a very strong case against Rigg and wasn’t convinced the conditions could mitigate risk. She was refused bail.

Both will be back in court in December.

Lake Macquarie Police Crime Manager, Detective Inspector Steve Benson said abuse or violence against vulnerable members of the community wouldn’t be tolerated.

He urged anyone who had any information to come forward.

“Anyone that might have been in the Charlestown area, Pacific Highway in Ferri street about 11.30pm, we believe there are other members of the community out there that may also have some knowledge, strongly urge they come forward,” he said.

Further charges could be laid as police search for two other people allegedly involved.