Stalker Kaleb Lucas Watson held woman captive at cemetery, strangled her

A young woman endured strangulation, punches and having her hair ripped out before she managed to escape after seven terrifying hours. Now, her violent captor can be unmasked.

Kaleb Lucas Watson, 26, was jailed at Gladstone after subjecting a woman to a horrific domestic violence attack at a cemetery. Generic image.

The face of a stalker who held a 23-year-old woman captive at a cemetery and then subjected her to a horrific seven-hour ordeal can be revealed.

It comes after Kaleb Lucas Watson, 26, was sentenced in the District Court at Gladstone for common assault, unlawful stalking with violence, deprivation of liberty, strangulation, assault occasioning bodily harm, assault occasioning bodily harm while armed, and dangerous operation of a vehicle (all domestic violence offences).

The court heard that at the time of the offending, Watson was 25 and the victim was his ex-partner.

They had been in an “on and off” relationship for about two years.

The court was told that about 1am on July 30 last year, Watson and the woman got into an argument.

He punched her, ripped her hair out, smashed her head into the ground and then pushed her into a garden bed.

Then on August 1 and 2, Watson subjected the woman to a seven-hour domestic violence ordeal, the court heard.

Watson was driving a car and the woman was a passenger when they got into an argument.

Watson drove to a cemetery and once there, he committed numerous acts of domestic violence against her.

The court heard the woman was “trapped” in the car while Watson attacked her.

Shortly after arriving at the cemetery, the pair continued to argue before Watson hit and punched the woman in the face and ripped her hair out.

The court was told he punched her face multiple times before strangling her, putting both his hands around her throat and squeezing for about 10 seconds.

The woman felt like she was going to pass out.

Watson released his grip and then resumed punching her in the face.

The court heard there were at least two more times during the ordeal that Watson put his hands around her neck and applied pressure.

Gladstone Courthouse.

Watson also grabbed the woman by her hair and “smashed” her head into various objects including the car dashboard, the passenger door, and the door frame.

He also “smashed” her head into a seatbelt buckle about five times, which lacerated her forehead.

The court was told Watson also put the woman in a headlock and punched her head “for five to 10 minutes.”

He also threatened her with tools and metal objects, using one of the tools to smash the car windscreen.

Watson then hit the woman with a spanner, which bruised her forehead.

Watson drove away from the cemetery with the woman still in the vehicle, and he told her that he would “kill her, have her killed, have other people kidnap her, and human traffic her.”

The woman asked for water and Watson pulled up at a service station and told her to run in and steal as much water as she could.

When she refused, Watson hit her and said if she wanted water, she’d do it.

The court heard Watson continued driving and the woman reached over to sound the horn in a bid to attract attention.

Watson then stopped the car, got out of the driver’s seat, and reached in to grab the woman by her hair, pulling her from the passenger seat to the driver’s seat.

He put her in a headlock, pushed her onto the road, and then he got back into the car.

By this time, it was 5.30am – seven hours since the ordeal started – and the woman ran to a nearby house.

Watson reversed the vehicle and chased her with it, narrowly missing hitting her, before driving away.

A person who was nearby called emergency services.  

The woman was taken to hospital where she was treated for a forehead laceration and bruising to her nose and left forearm.

She was discharged from hospital that afternoon.

There was no victim impact statement before the court but Judge Amanda McDonnell said the ordeal would have been “terrifying” for the woman.

The court heard Watson had numerous prior domestic violence offences on his criminal history involving the same woman, and he committed these latest offences while on parole.

Watson had spent 190 days in pre-sentence custody and Judge McDonnell said she would declare 121 of those days and take the rest into account.

The court heard Watson, a father, grew up in Gladstone, his parents were both drug addicts, and he was exposed to domestic violence as a child.

At the time of this offending, he was addicted to ice, cannabis and alcohol.

The court also heard that Watson accepted he needed help to deal with his issues and he was ashamed of his offending.

It was told since being in custody, Watson had been working in the kitchen seven days a week and he had addressed his drug use.

Judge McDonnell sentenced Watson to four years’ jail, declared 121 days’ pre-sentence custody as time already served, and fixed parole eligibility at February 16, 2026.

Originally published as Stalker Kaleb Lucas Watson held woman captive at cemetery, strangled her