A man has been held in an Oak Flats warehouse and tortured with tools including a drill, hammers, a gun and metal hook, in a brutal episode lasting three days, a Wollongong court has heard.
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The man was knocked unconscious and his ear was partially ripped from his head with pliers in the course of the alleged ordeal.
Police facts sheets tendered to court say he was held at gunpoint but, badly bloodied and incapacitated by his injuries, became no flight risk, at one point begging his tormentors: “just kill me. I can’t take it anymore”.
He emerged with ligature marks across his chest, arms and neck that would remain visible weeks later.
Police have charged three people over the incident, including Cordeaux Heights resident Nikola Trajkovski, 37, alleged by investigating officers to be a “standover man”.
With another man, Trajkovski allegedly confronted his victim on a residential driveway in Dapto the night of January 3.
Police say the duo gave chase before Trajkovski accessed the man’s car and drove directly at him, flipping him onto the bonnet and – with a second burst forward – crushing him against the fenceline.
The man was allegedly taken against his will to a Mineral Road, Oak Flats address, where he was bound with wire.
Trajkovski allegedly punched him several times to the head before his co-accused began a gruesome series of attacks involving a ballpoint hammer to the knees, which badly damaged the man’s hands as he tried to protect himself.
Police say Trajkovski was there when his co-accused swung a large metal chain with a hook on the end into the man’s legs, at one point taking a deep gouge from his shin.
The pair allegedly screamed at the man throughout: “where’s your f---ing money?” and repeatedly asked him to sign over ownership of his classic car.
Trajkovski was arrested on Wednesday and charged. He was refused bail at Wollongong Local Court on Thursday.
The court heard the man freed himself from his binds once left alone, in a bid to convince his tormentors he would not escape.
Instead he was allegedly bound more tightly, with stronger material, then tied again to the front of a car.
Police say Trajkovski smashed an empty beer bottle into the man’s elbows after he began to doze, causing a pain he would later describe to police as “excruciating”.
His co-accused allegedly used a pair of pliers to rip the cartilage from the man’s upper right ear, held a gun to his head, rubbed his bare skin with a steel brush and knocked him across the head before he lost consciousness.
The man awoke on January 4.
Trajkovski’s co-accused allegedly then drilled into his temple and arm with a Phillips head screwdriver.
The victim was released on January 5, although the police statement did not reveal the circumstances.
The girlfriend of Trajkovsi’s co-accused has also been charged.
The police statement said she arrived at the warehouse on January 4 and used a firearm described as a pump-action shotgun to hold the victim. The court heard the victim was left alone with her and repeatedly "worked hard on her" to let him go, but she refused.
Trajkovski faces two charges of take / detain in company occasioning actual bodily harm. One of the charges relates to a separate incident in a Wollongong unit on January 20, involving a different alleged victim.
The matter returns to court April 13.