Camille Cardamone still struggles to be alone, two years after men she trusted held her captive and assaulted her in Unanderra.
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Late on the night of June 26, 2020, she was invited to an auto workshop by Andrew Jason Nicholls, a man with whom she was having a relationship.
But when she arrived she found not only Nicholls there but Anthony Rutherford and Joshua White too, and an argument ensued about something White thought she had said about his relationship with his partner.
During the incident Miss Cardamone was detained, assaulted, and had her life threatened before she managed to get away.
A jury has since found Nicholls, 37, and Rutherford, 34, guilty of detaining in company with intent to gain advantage.
Judge Gregory Woods sentenced them both to two-year intensive corrections orders, with supervision and a nightly curfew: from 12am to 6am for Nicholls, and 9pm to 6am for Rutherford.
White, 27, pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced last year by Judge Andrew Haesler to two years and three months' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of one year and two months; he became eligible for parole last month.
Miss Cardamone told the Mercury that she thought the sentences handed down to Nicholls and Rutherford were an "absolute joke" and the curfews did not go far enough.
"I don't feel that's a punishment," she said.
The sentences felt especially lenient, she said, compared to White's punishment, particularly given he pleaded guilty.
In sentencing White last year, Judge Haesler said an audio recording of the Miss Cardamone's ordeal - captured by CCTV - conveyed her "obvious fear and terror".
That fear she experienced continues to affect her, two years on.
"I don't like going out by myself... I don't like being alone since that night," Miss Cardamone said, adding that the only time she was really ever alone was on her drive to and from work.
Going through the legal process - and reliving her ordeal during the trial - has made the past two years "long and tough".
And her anxiety has only become heightened since Nicholls and Rutherford's sentencing because she is afraid that she will run into them or see them when she goes out.
But Miss Cardamone said she was working on managing her trauma.
"I'm trying to get there, and it's just a day-by-day process at the moment," she said.
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Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
