Kidnapping and torture victim Maitland Shannon Chitty, 35, sentenced on GST fraud charges

A defence lawyer said a prison sentence for fraud would be “more onerous than usual” after his client was assaulted in prison for giving evidence against the drug dealers who kidnapped and tortured him.

Maitland Chitty leaves Cairns court house after giving evidence during a committal hearing for Kody Shaquille Schieber in 2017.

A defence lawyer said a prison sentence for fraud would be “more onerous than usual” after his client was assaulted in prison for giving evidence against the drug dealers who kidnapped and tortured him.

Maitland Shannon Chitty, 35, pleaded guilty to six fraud charges in Cairns District Court this week after he obtained more than $29,000 from a false GST claim and attempted to gain another $136,000 from the Australian Taxation Office.

Commonwealth prosecutor John Lee told the court Chitty’s offending was motivated by “greed rather than need” and involved GST claims for a false scaffolding business which the claims indicated had costs of $2.5 million.

Mr Lee told the court the business never existed and Chitty was receiving government support payments at the time.

He said Chitty originally claimed the fraud was completed without his knowledge while he was incarcerated but this was proven to be false.

He said there was “little hope” of reparations being relayed to the commonwealth.

Chitty’s defence counsel John Seccull accepted the offending was a serious example of fraud, but claimed there were strong reasons for mitigation of his sentence arising from Chitty’s past.

Mr Seccull said Chitty’s offending was driven by drug addiction developed from the age of 15 when he was working on fishing trawlers which led to a “roller coaster of struggles”.

Mooroobool man Maitland Chitty, was the victim of a drug related kidnapping in 2017 when he was 26.

He told the court Chitty suffered from PTSD stemming from a “very serious example of torture” related to a drug debt.

In 2016 Chitty was the victim of a violent abduction and torture in an act of gangland style retribution.

Chitty was taken to a shipping container on a remote Kuranda property and tortured violently.

At the sentence of Melchor Restauro Garcia Justice James Henry said this included hitting Chitty with an axe handle, stabbing him twice in the arm with a knife, choking him and kneeing and punching him while he was tied to a cross beam with material over his head and a noose around his neck.

Garcia pleaded guilty in 2017 to 24 offences between July 2015 and February 2016 including torturing Mr Chitty.

A man with stab wounds and rope burns arrives at the Cairns Hospital by ambulance under police escort The man wandered into Hartley's Crocodile Adventures at Wangetti with his wounds. Detectives speak with police officers that met with the man at Wangetti. PICTURE: BRENDAN RADKE

He was taken to home where he was tied to a bed and assaulted before he was taken to remote bushland at Mona Mona where he was tied to a tree and left for dead.

Chitty was able to escape and walked to Hartleys Crocodile Adventures for help.

Mr Seccull said Chitty was unable to escape further retribution telling the court he late had his jaw broken in prison as retribution for giving evidence against his kidnappers.

He also told the court, “to his knowledge” he believed Garcia was incarcerated in Lotus Glen correctional facility.

Mr Seccull said any time in prison would be “more onerous” considering the circumstances.

Judge Dean Morzone KC said Chitty had fallen into a common “unlawful trend” of GST offending which had extended into “the billions of dollars” that the commonwealth will not see returned.

He recognised Chitty’s circumstances but said the “threshold of imprisonment” had been crossed.

Chitty was sentenced to two years imprisonment to be released on probation and a good behaviour bond after serving four months.

Originally published as Kidnapping and torture victim Maitland Shannon Chitty, 35, sentenced on GST fraud charges