An Illawarra man believed he was going for a friendly bong with some old mates when he was allegedly kidnapped, bundled into the boot of a car and attacked with a machete near Avondale last year.
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The man eventually managed to escape through the vehicle’s parcel shelf and out a rear door but not before he received multiple deep cuts to his hands as he tried to fend off the knife.
On Wednesday, more than 10 months after the incident was said to have occurred, Wollongong Local Court heard the victim told police at the time that one of his attackers was his former school classmate, Mark Chambers.
The man told police he was staying with a friend when he was contacted by some old mates, including the co-accused, Maddison Taylor.
They agreed to meet up, with Taylor arranging to pick the victim up.
However, it is alleged just minutes after the victim got in the car, Day saw Chambers walking along the road and told the driver to stop.
Chambers allegedly saw the victim in the car and said “why did you send people around to my house?”
The victim allegedly said he had no idea what Chambers meant, however it is alleged Chambers punched the victim in the face and pulled him out of the car before putting him in a choke hold then bundling him into the boot.
The victim, fearing for his safety, armed himself with a screwdriver from a tool box in the boot after repeatedly hearing Chambers threaten to kill him, police said.
The car drove for a period of time before someone in the vehicle began thrusting a knife through the shelf parcel and into the boot space.
The victim told police he had to use his hands to defend himself, resulting in deep cuts to his fingers.
When the vehicle came to a stop, the man said he took the opportunity to climb through into the backseat while screaming for help.
He claims Chambers yelled at another person in the vehicle “just keep hitting him [the victim]”, however the man managed to open the door, flee the scene and get help from a nearby resident.
The following day police found the vehicle involved in the incident burned out about 200m away from its home address in Berkeley.
Officers went to see the registered owner of the car – Chamber’s mother – who confirmed her son had the vehicle at the time of the incident.
Police revealed in court on Wednesday afternoon just hours after his arrest that they had delayed his apprehension for so long because they had been tapping his phone in a bid to discover who else was involved in the alleged kidnapping. Taylor is the only other arrest so far.
Chambers was remanded in custody.
Clarification: An earlier version of this story named the co-accused as Maddison Day. This was incorrect and occurred due to a mistake that was printed in the police facts tendered in court. Ms Day has no involvement in the matter and the Mercury apologises for the error. The name of the co-accused has since been clarified as Maddison Taylor.