Co-accused who allegedly tortured and threw teen girl off bridge refused bail
A former couple who share a child will spend Christmas in jail over the attempted murder of a girl who was tortured, tied up and thrown off a bridge.
A former couple who share a young child will spend Christmas in jail over the attempted murder of a disabled teen girl who was tortured, tied up and thrown off a bridge.
Matthew Leuthwaite, 22, Brooke Brown, 19, a 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were charged in October with several offences including the attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping of disabled teen, Kayla Kendrigan. If found guilty, they each face up to 25 years jail.
Mr Leuthwaite and Ms Brown, who have a three-year-old son together, were formally refused bail in Penrith Local Court today although Leuthwaite didn’t apply. The pair has not yet entered pleas and will return to court in February.
Ms Kendrigan, 19, was allegedly kidnapped from Ambarvale, in western Sydney, by a group of former friends and tortured for hours before they tried to kill her, police allege.
Court documents viewed by news.com.au claim Ms Kendrigan was forced into the boot of a car and driven about 50kms north to a house in Whalan on September 26. Once inside the home, the victim was tied to a chair, blindfolded, bashed with a bat, burned, punched, kicked, stabbed and had her hair hacked off, according to police.
The ordeal allegedly unfolded at the hands of four people known to Ms Kendrigan over two days.
NIGHT OF TERROR
According to court documents, Ms Kendrigan was visiting a friend in Ambarvale when she asked her housemate, Ms Brown, if she could pick her up and bring her home to Whalan. The pair had known each other for about two months and were relatively “new friends”, sources close to them told news.com.au.
Ms Brown agreed to collect Ms Kendrigan but also brought along her ex-partner, Mr Leuthwaite, the 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons due to their ages.
Police will allege the group planned during the drive to punch and “assault” Ms Kendrigan on arrival over an earlier verbal argument between the victim and the co-accused 17-year-old girl. But the incident allegedly took a much uglier turn when they instead forced her into Ms Brown’s car and held her against her will before eventually throwing her off the bridge in the early hours of September 27.
Court documents allege the group believed Ms Kendrigan, who police described as a “quietly spoken person with a below-average learning ability”, had earlier called one of them “a dog”.
Ms Kendrigan, who was born without a left lower arm or hand, told police she was later forced back into the boot of the car, while still blindfolded and bound in the early hours of Sunday morning.
A video allegedly taken during the kidnapping, shows one of the alleged offenders demand Ms Kendrigan “get in the car (or) I’ll drag you in the f**kin boot”.
“Hurry the f**k up,” the person continues.
Ms Kendrigan then goes to use her phone and screams for her “dad” to help as one of the group members snatches the device from her hands. Moments later she can be heard crying and screaming “just leave me alone”.
Another clip shows a male yelling at the victim, as one person waves and another woman watches television inside a house. Ms Kendrigan can be seen tied to a chair with a phone charger cord as she is dragged through a hallway into another room.
“Don’t smile this ain’t supposed to be f**kin’ fun,” the man can be heard saying.
“This is the gronk that wants to call people f**kin’ dogs … now she’s tied up in a room like a c***… yeah, yeah that’s how it works.”
She was then driven to Windsor Bridge and thrown off into the Hawkesbury River about 5am, according to police. The drop was about 20 metres.
“A period of 5-6 hours, in what can best be described as ‘torture of the victim’, it was a group decision to dump the victim away from the premises so as not to come under police notice,” court documents allege.
“As a result … of a birth defect … she would not be able to physically resist any attack or defend herself in a reasonable manner.
“The victim struggled to swim and float, managing to hold herself out of the water momentarily, and was able to make her way to the George St side of the river bank, and raise the attentions of persons at a nearby residence.”
Police and paramedics were called to the scene and she was taken to the Nepean Hospital and treated for serious injuries.
THE AFTERMATH
According to police, the victim sustained “significant injuries” including two stab wounds to her lower legs, deep bruising to her head and face, soreness to her upper body and lower back, burn marks to her hand and severe emotional trauma.
Police will allege that Ms Kendrigan was left for dead and that “the actions of the accused and co-accused was a group decision”.
“(They) have demonstrated a common purpose in order to inflict extreme pain and suffering to the victim while having no regard to whether these actions bought about the death of the victim,” police documents read.
Dictator’s daughter learns fate for Jetstar act
The daughter of late Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos has admitted in court to behaving in a disorderly manner on a Jetstar flight.
Woman critical after hit-and-run horror
A woman has been left fighting for life after an alleged hit-and-run, with police releasing crucial CCTV of one of the vehicles allegedly involved.
Bondi killer’s angst over losing knives
Bondi killer Joel Cauchi “laid his hands” on his dad after his military knives were confiscated a year before the fatal attack, an inquest has been told.