Dylan Iliopoulos and father Elias jailed after blackmailing and bashing business owner

A tradie and his father who begged for no jail after bashing and blackmailing a man in “an exercise in thuggery” have been sentenced.

A contractor and his father have learnt their fate after begging for no jail over a horror attack where they bashed and blackmailed a man.

Dylan Elias Iliopoulos, 30, and his father Elias Iliopoulos, 57, are now behind bars after they forced a terrified Gary Doody to transfer over $25,000.

During the trial in March, James Meegan, for the prosecution, told the court that Mr Doody ran a business called Active Recreations Solutions, which specialised in building playgrounds.

He was looking for some extra workers in 2020 and Dylan contacted him after he placed an advertisement on Seek.

Dylan and another man then started working for Mr Doody who contracted them to a job for the Naracoorte Council.

Dylan Iliopoulos was jailed over blackmailing his former boss. Photo: Facebook

The court heard Mr Doody travelled to Naracoorte and saw things weren’t progressing well and was told by someone in the council that they weren’t happy with the work.

Mr Doody sent the men a text message on November 9, 2020 saying their working relationship was over and to send him an invoice for what they believed they were owed.

The court heard Mr Doody was alone in his Edwardstown warehouse on November 12, 2020 when Dylan and Elias arrived.

Mr Meegan said Mr Doody fell over and Dylan and Elias held him down, before he was forced to transfer Dylan $25,000.

Dylan also stole Mr Doody’s phone.

The court heard Mr Doody was taken to hospital with cuts on his face, swelling in his wrist and suffered a rotator cuff tear in his right shoulder.

Dylan and Elias were found guilty at trial of aggravated blackmail, while Dylan was also found guilty of theft.

After Dylan’s counsel argued in August that it was not a case of “vigilante justice” as Mr Doody owed Dylan some money, Judge Heath Barklay said he could not sentence on that basis.

“He lied through his teeth to the police as to how the $25,000 got into his bank account, saying maybe the victim just wanted to give it to him for the job he did.

“That was an obvious pack of lies … is this not a classic case of your client taking the law into his own hands when there were other options available to him?” he said.

“In fact, there was reference during the trial to a text message in which he said ‘the court process takes too long’.

“Assuming I accept the victim’s evidence – which, I can tell you, I do – this really was just an exercise in thuggery.”

Dylan was jailed for two years and two months, with a non-parole period of 10 months.

Elias was jailed for two years and four months, with a non-parole period of 13 months.

Originally published as Dylan Iliopoulos and father Elias jailed after blackmailing and bashing business owner