Mob mentality: 8 of SA’s most shocking robberies, revenge plots or other group crimes
Tortured with a taser, violated with a rolling pin or punched in the face – these violent SA criminals ganged up on their innocent victims with shocking results.
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Some of South Australia’s most brutal and shocking crimes have been committed in groups, including drug-fuelled attacks on innocent captives, bizarre revenge plots and violent robberies.
Whether they were emboldened by the presence of their accomplices, spurred on by peer pressure or succumbed to a mob mentality, the people listed here have been sentenced for chilling group crimes committed in the past five years.
NEW YEAR, NEW ASSAULT PLOT
WHO: Daniel Wayne Bland, 29, and Brad Andrew Roberts, 30
WHEN: January 1, 2023
WHERE: Elizabeth Grove
While other South Aussies were setting New Year’s resolutions, Bland and Roberts ushered in 2023 by holding a man hostage, attempting to gouge out his eye and threatening to cut off his penis.
The District Court was told Bland and Roberts sought revenge on the victim over an unfounded belief, while fuelled by meth.
Along with another accomplice, they bound the victim with duct tape and tied him with rope.
Judge Simon Stretton said Bland took a spoon and started attempting to gouge the victim’s eye out of its socket, but stopped when Roberts told him he’d be locked up for a long time if he succeeded.
“Whilst he was tied up the victim heard you all talking about what you’d do to him, including stabbing him, tying him to a jetty, cutting off his penis or burning him,” Judge Stretton said.
“You, Mr Bland, boiled the kettle and told the victim that you wanted to pour it into his eye.”
The victim was detained for six hours until he escaped to a nearby property, where he called police about 7am.
Bland and Roberts pleaded guilty to false imprisonment and assault causing harm.
Bland, a former tattoo artist, was sentenced to four years and three months’ jail, and Roberts was sentenced to four years and two months’ jail.
MIDNIGHT MACHETE SLASHERS
WHO: Rodney Jackson-Searle, 30; Ziggy Sumner-Cooper, 33; and Shane Edward David Wilson, 33
WHEN: June 28, 2021
WHERE: Salisbury North
Jackson-Searle, Sumner-Cooper and Wilson struck a sleeping father’s head with a pole and slashed his leg multiple times with a machete after breaking into his home to steal his Holden.
The District Court was told the trio and an unknown fourth intruder, wearing balaclavas, broke into Todd Finlay-Smith’s home just before midnight to steal his Holden ClubSport, worth more than $100,000, after he posted photos of it on Facebook.
Judge Paul Muscat said the man was sleeping on a couch when he was struck on the back of his head with a pole by one intruder, then cut deeply on the leg with a machete by Sumner-Cooper before the trio stole his partner Kaleena Oldenampsen’s car.
Ms Oldenampsen and the couple’s three children, aged seven, five and three, were also at home.
The court was told Mr Finlay-Smith would never walk properly again, could not play football with his children and lived with PTSD, physical pain and paranoia because of the crime.
The trio pleaded guilty to serious criminal trespass, theft and causing serious harm with intent.
Wilson was jailed for nine years; Sumner-Cooper for eight years and four months; and Jackson-Searle for seven years.
ROLLING PIN HUMILIATION
WHO: Indran Supparamaniyam, 38; Bakiasuppiah Pillay Ramachandran, 39; and Baalu Muniandy, 29
WHEN: December 24, 2021
WHERE: Naracoorte
Supparamaniyam, Ramachandran and Muniandy spent Christmas Eve in 2021 violently assaulting, stripping and placing a rolling pin on the anus of a male victim.
The District Court was told the trio had been drinking when they decided to attend the home of the victim, whom Supparamaniyam had become acquainted with through work before the victim allegedly began harassing him and his family.
Taking the law into their own hands, the group woke the sleeping victim and dragged him to their car, driving him to Supparamaniyam’s house where they assaulted him over seven hours by violently punching him, kicking him and smashing beer bottles over his head.
The men also shaved the victim’s head, removed his shorts and underwear, pinned him down and placed an oiled up rolling pin against his anus on two occasions, as well as using it to beat him.
The trio pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including serious criminal trespass, false imprisonment and indecent assault.
Supparamaniyam and Ramachandran were jailed for six years and two months, and Muniandy for five years and ten months.
The court was told the men were likely to be deported back to their home country Malaysia after completing their sentences.
SOUTHERN PALACE STABBING
WHO: Aydin Lenart, 21; Tyrone Bradley Thompson, 23; Baylee Luke Pickett, 21; and Connar Aiden Pails, 21
WHEN: January 2022
WHERE: Christies Beach
Lenart, Thompson and Pails attacked and stabbed the owner of Southern Palace Chinese restaurant and stole his gold chain.
The District Court was told the victim heard noises while he was working and observed fresh graffiti at the rear of his restaurant when he went outside to investigate.
He saw the group and waved a knife at them, telling them not to come any closer.
The court was told the victim was chased, attacked, received a heavy blow to his right eye and had his gold chain, valued at about $10,000, stolen.
Pails, who had armed himself with the victim’s knife, also stabbed the victim to his left hand in a “hacking motion”, causing significant blood loss.
The trio pleaded guilty to causing harm with intent, and Thompson also pleaded guilty to robbery.
Thompson, a father who had been on a five-day drug bender at the time of the offending, was jailed for three years and 10 months.
Pails was jailed for three years and three months.
Lenart was sentenced to three years jail, but he walked free from court after his sentence was suspended on a $500, three-year good behaviour bond, because of his lesser role in the offending, traumatic upbringing and rehabilitation efforts.
Pickett was sentenced to two years home detention after pleading guilty.
PITCHFORK VIGILANTES
WHO: Natalie Jane MacDonald, 48; Will Richard Fisher, 42; and Lynette Margaret McDonald, 63
WHEN: April 14, 2022
WHERE: Goolwa Beach
MacDonald, Fisher and McDonald assaulted, hogtied and threatened a man with a pitchfork in a bizarre vigilante act described by a judge as a “medieval scene”.
The District Court was told the trio attended the victim’s Goolwa Beach property and accused him of kidnapping a woman he was in a relationship with, who had been missing until police informed the victim she was safe earlier in the day.
The victim tried to explain the woman had been found, but the group wouldn’t listen.
The court was told MacDonald, who was holding a hammer, instructed Fisher to tie the victim up before he tried to run out the back door.
The trio chased and caught the victim, tackling and hitting him before MacDonald and Fisher hogtied him.
MacDonald delivered multiple blows to his head and legs with the hammer.
McDonald attended the premises and took hold of a pitchfork and threatened the victim, saying: “Just tell them whatever you know, man, this isn’t worth it”.
Judge Anthony Allen said the victim thought he would die.
“It is reminiscent of a medieval scene that has no part to play in modern society,” he said.
The ringleader, MacDonald, was sentenced to one year and 10 months’ jail.
MacDonald and Fisher pleaded guilty to assault and false imprisonment, while McDonald pleaded guilty to assault by threatening to use a weapon.
Fisher was sentenced to one year and five months’ jail and McDonald to two months’ jail, but their sentences were suspended on a $500 good behaviour bond because of their lesser roles in the offending and rehabilitation efforts.
BRUTAL YUMMY BOX ASSAULT
WHO: Hendrix James Martin, 32; Brenton Paul Crombie, 23; and Thomas William Schultz, 22
WHEN: October 2021
WHERE: Park Holme
Crombie and Schultz were caught on CCTV robbing a Chinese restaurant and brutally attacking the owners, while Martin, the getaway driver, waited in his car.
CCTV showed a female victim knocked to the ground after the duo entered the Yummy Box takeaway store – Schultz then kicked her after she fell.
When the store’s owner attempted to intervene, armed with a stick, Crombie struck him twice with a hammer, damaging his face and breaking his teeth.
Judge Michael Burnett said the group went on to steal a wallet and car keys from another driver in the carpark before leaving.
“They were vulnerable in that it was late at night and they were conducting their business … there was no reason to confront them and offend against them in the way you all did,” he said.
The trio pleaded guilty to multiple theft and violence offences.
Martin, who never left his car during the robbery, was sentenced to the longest prison term of four years and four months.
Schultz was sentenced to three years and 10 months jail, and Crombie to four years, two months and 28 days.
TASER TORTURE FACEBOOK BOAST
WHO: Justin Kym Dempsey, 45; Jake Anthony Brown, 35; and man whose identity is suppressed, 33
WHEN: July 15, 2021
WHERE: Seaford
Dempsey, Brown and their accomplice tortured a man with a taser and published a video of the abuse on Facebook after accusing him of stealing a tobacco pouch.
The District Court was told the accomplice – whose name is suppressed – invited the victim to his Seaford house by sending him a photo of Dempsey holding what appeared to be meth.
Upon his arrival, the suppressed man accused the victim of taking a pouch of tobacco from him, before Dempsey punched the victim to the face and stomped on his head multiple times.
Judge Kris Handshin said the video “which was incomprehensibly later posted to Facebook” vividly exposed the victim’s terror as the group continued to stomp on him and strike his foot with a gas bottle.
“The red dot of the taser is seen to be moving over his body before it is discharged and strikes him,” Judge Handshin said.
The court was told Dempsey and Brown had heavily abused meth before the offending.
The trio pleaded guilty to assault causing harm.
Adding on a previous sentence, the suppressed man was sentenced to seven years and 11 months jail, and Brown was sentenced to four years jail.
Dempsey was sentenced to four years and three months jail, but he was ordered to serve the sentence on home detention because of his rehabilitation efforts.
NOISE COMPLAINT REVENGE
WHO: Robert James Baker, 32; Benjamin Thomas Nesbitt, 26; and Mark John Mumford, 27
WHEN: October 5, 2023
WHERE: Pooraka, SA
Baker, Nesbitt and Mumford broke into a neighbour’s home, held a knife to his throat, and threatened to kill him and stab his partner’s baby son because he told Nesbitt to “shut up” and that his music was too loud.
The Adelaide District Court was told Nesbitt had consumed 24 cans of pre-mixed Jim Beam, some MDMA or ecstasy, and possibly also some meth when his neighbours banged on the adjoining wall of his Pooraka unit and complained about the noise.
Judge Paul Muscat said Nesbitt responded by rounding up three men, including Mumford and Baker, who then broke into the neighbour’s house, punched him, and held a knife to his throat and to his pregnant partner’s cheek.
The group threatened to kill the couple and stab the woman’s infant son, who was sleeping in his bedroom.
The trio pleaded guilty to charges including aggravated serious criminal trespass.
They were each sentenced to three years and four months imprisonment with a non-parole period of 18 months.
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