‘What have I done?’: kidnapped man jumps from speeding car after false burnout accusation

When two drug-affected men heard a car doing burnouts outside their Carrum Downs home, they ran outside to find the culprit. But what they did next means one faces deportation, and the other jail time.

Evan Fox (left) with co-offender Joshua Dodemaide. Source: Facebook.

A pair of vigilantes has assaulted and threatened to kill a man during a terrifying kidnapping after wrongly believing he did burnouts outside their Carrum Downs home.

And the vicious assault only ended when their terrified victim jumped from a speeding car.

Evan Fox, 21, was sentenced in the County Court earlier this month after pleading guilty to kidnapping and intentionally damaging property.

Fox and former housemate Joshua Dodemaide armed themselves with weapons after being woken by a hoon doing burnouts just after 3am on June 3 last year.

The “substance-impaired” duo drove around in Dodemaide’s Toyota Hilux to find the culprit.

The pair scoured the roads and came across Jarrad Muscat, who was driving nearby.

Fox and Dodemaide somehow got it in their heads Mr Muscat was responsible, so stopped him in the middle of the road.

Mr Muscat reversed and drove away after the drugged-up duo attacked his ute.

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Dodemaide drove after Mr Muscat and rammed his ute.

Fox and Dodemaide dragged Mr Muscat out of his ute, propped him up and kicked and punched him.

A “mystified” Mr Muscat pleaded with his attackers to let him go.

“What have I done?” Mr Muscat asked.

“I don’t even know you.”

Dodemaide threatened Mr Muscat: “Don’t f*** with me I’ll kill you now, I’ve got the footage. You know what you f****n did.”

But Mr Muscut pleaded: “Are you sure you have the right guy?”

Dodemaide threw Mr Muscat in the back of his Hilux as he and Fox discussed how to hide their victim’s ute.

The former housemates were “substance impaired” when they kidnapped Jarrad Muscat. Source: Facebook.

Fox attempted to drive the damaged ute away but couldn’t start it.

In the meantime, Dodemaide sped off with Mr Muscat in the back seat.

Desperate and terrified, Mr Muscat opened the door and threw himself onto the road.

The terrified victim was able to escape and raise the alarm to police.

Fox was arrested several weeks later after he and Dodemaide attempted to hide the crime from police.

CCTV from outside the pair’s home proved Mr Muscat had not done the burnouts.

Mr Muscat could not identify Dodemaide at a police line-up but a statement from Fox helped police put the finger on his former mate.

Dodemaide will be sentenced at a later date. Source: Facebook.

Fox was sentenced in the County Court on July 10 to 86 days — time already served.

Judge Felicity Hampel said: “You (Fox after leaving home at 18) lived with friends and moved in circles where partying, alcohol and drugs filled in the time when you weren’t at work”.

“It made no difference if Mr Muscat had done the burnouts or not,” she said.

“Vigilante attacks are not to be tolerated.

“This was a senseless attack and it must have been terrifying for Mr Muscat.

“(It) demonstrates one of the vices of vigilante behaviour that the wrong person, an entirely innocent person, can be attacked, assaulted and terrorised for no good reason.

“(Mr Muscat) was subjected to a terrifying and a vicious attack which sprang from an irrational mistaken belief that he had done something.

“And what had he done, nothing worse than a burnout in front of your house.”

Fox, an Irish national who came to Australia as a dependent child when he was 15, also spent six months in immigration detention which did not count as time in custody.

The former Dromana High student will now be deported.

Dodemaide pleaded guilty to kidnapping, intentionally damage property, reckless conduct endangering serious injury and committing an offence while on bail and will be sentenced at a later date.

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