Elijah Schaaf back to jail over kidnapping of bikie Dillon Mancuso
A feared Sydney criminal was hauled back to jail for Christmas after being wrongly released in a shocking bikie kidnapping case.
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A feared Sydney criminal was sent back to jail for Christmas after being wrongly released thanks to a court mix-up in a case involving a brutal bikie kidnapping that went viral.
Elijah Schaaf could almost taste the gravy.
The 26-year-old walked out of the Sydney District Court seemingly a free man on December 12, having been sentenced for the gruesome kidnapping of a Lone Wolf bikie.
Schaaf had spent more than two years behind bars before being sentenced over his role in the 2021 kidnapping of Dillon Mancuso.
The time covered the minimum two years and eight month sentence given to him by Judge Sean Grant, who ordered he be released and supervised by the parole board.
But no one in the court pointed out to Judge Grant that the maximum four year sentence he gave to Schaaf meant Schaaf should not have been released.
Under NSW law, offenders serving sentences more than three years and one day can only be released on the order of the State Parole Authority.
This can only happen after SPA compiles a report making a recommendation to either release or keep someone like Schaaf in custody, followed by a hearing where a final decision is made.
And the first available hearing date is not until February 28.
Schaaf was ordered to return to custody the next day and spent Christmas in the MRRC lockup at Silverwater, where he will remain until his parole hearing.
What’s worse, Schaaf had been free on bail since February and the mix-up was only discovered when he attempted to return his ankle bracelet.
The 26-year-old is a member of a feared freelance crime group based in Western Sydney.
A source said he had multiple non-association orders with other inmates, based on his prison record.
Schaaf’s sentence came after he was sentenced for kidnapping with intent to ransom, tampering with evidence and destroying property.
Schaaf was among 11 charged over the Mancuso kidnapping, which went viral when footage of the police rescuing him from a Western Sydney factory emerged.
Wearing only his underpants, Mancuso was pictured sitting bloodied and bruised on a police car in the moments after the rescue.
Of the men sentenced over the kidnapping, only two avoided jail.
Defence lawyer Kiki Kyriacou on Friday confirmed his client, Vaeluagaomatagy Feilo, was one of them and was ordered to serve a three-year sentence in the community.
Feilo was found not guilty of kidnapping for ransom but was sentenced for detaining with intent and destroying evidence by fire.
Mr Kyriacou said his other client, a minor known as GF, also avoided jail after being sentenced for the same offences.
The longest sentence — a maximum eight years — was handed to Duane Aaron Rangihuna, who was jailed for detaining a person for ransom and aggravated break and enter with an offensive weapon.
Mancuso, who has “unstoppable” tattooed around his neck, was kidnapped from his father’s Bringelly house at gunpoint at 3am in June 2021.
Soon after, a ransom of between $30m to $100m was demanded for his release, with photos circulated of Mancuso’s bloodied face wrapped in duct tape.
Mancuso was taken to a warehouse at Marigold St, Revesby, and held hostage for 10 hours while the kidnappers attempted to secure the massive ransom from the bikie’s family and friends by making calls from his mobile phone.
The warehouse was set on fire with Mancuso still inside before heavily armed police raided the building and rescued the bikie, who was treated in hospital.
Mancuso was called to give evidence in the case for the Crown, but threw the case into chaos when he disappeared.
He returned, but gave patchy evidence, telling the court he only remembered being woken up at his father’s home and then walking out of the warehouse.
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