A man is accused of assaulting a Unanderra sex worker and using a hailed taxi to kidnap her from a local bordello.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Police searched numerous places for the woman throughout the weekend before she and the accused kidnapper, Lee Dillon Eager, turned up at a Wollongong McDonald's restaurant on Monday evening.
Police have seized video and audio recordings from the cab of a Wollongong taxi driver who drove Eager to the Desires bordello at 13 Sylvester Avenue, Unanderra on Saturday morning.
The court heard the 37-year-old hailed down the taxi on the Princes Hwy at Wollongong and asked the driver to take him to Desires to pick up his girlfriend. En route, he allegedly told the driver that if anyone from the bordello should call for a taxi, the driver should cancel their order.
"There's no other jobs for Sylvester Avenue is there? If another job gets called there just cancel it because I lost communications with my mrs and um, yeah, but she'll be there, she was just having a shower now so, I don't want her to get a cab and, yeah."
The taxi pulled up about two metres from the brothel door shortly before 9am. The business was closed but Eager's girlfriend, who had been living there in recent weeks, was inside with a fellow worker.
Eager had a conversation with the women through some locked glass doors before allegedly becoming irate when his girlfriend refused to come with him.
"I'm gonna kick the window in one second I swear to god. I've been at the hospital for eight hours tryign to ring ya, you don't give a f---."
The cab's camera allegedly captured his words and his image as he kicked furiously at the glass door, eliciting screams from both women. Eager allegedly then threw a large discarded brick block through the door to get inside.
Police will allege Eager indicated to the taxi boot and told the woman "get the f--- in there ... you were in here like a dog, get in".
The woman was heard screaming loudly and repeatedly apologising.
Police allege once inside the property Eager repeatedly punched and kicked her body and face, pulled her hair and kneed her in the torso. He allegedly grabbed her belongings and packed them into the taxi boot before ordering her to hurry up.
The woman walked to the taxi. Once inside, an agitated Eager allegedly yelled "she's a filthy f---ing whore" and loudly shared detailed plans for a murder-suicide.
"I've got the holes dug, Danny," he allegedly told the driver. "The holes are done, we are going to kill each other."
The woman was heard saying, "you said you would help me ... please help me".
The driver was heard interjecting at one point - "take it easy brother" - but according to police he then deposited the couple at a Berkeley address and drove away.
The brothel incident was reported to police, however the woman's co-worker provided officers with limited information and refused to provide a statement. Investigating police found the cameras at the brothel had not been recording for several months.
Eager was arrested on Monday afternoon and charged with aggravated break and enter and take and detain offences.
He later told police had had taken numerous prescription and illegal drugs which caused him to black out and not remember the entire incident.
On Tuesday Wollongong Local Court heard Eager was in the grip of a severe drug habit, which he wanted to overcome.
"I'm sick of the drugs destroying my life," he told the court.
Bail was refused. The matter returns to court May 18.