Adelaide couples jailed for sadistic torture of teenage babysitter
Two Adelaide couples have been sentenced to jail for torturing a 19-year-old babysitter. The unnamed babysitter suffered horrific injuries and psychological trauma after she was subjected to “mindless, cruel and sadistic violence.”
On Wednesday, South Australia District Court Judge Jack Costello sentenced the four attackers to jail for their unspeakable crime against the young woman. The case is among the worst in SA that didn’t involve murder.
The court heard that on June 16, 2016, the victim and her housemate babysat the daughter of Joshua Anthony Gent, 29, and her former partner, Keira Jane Baker, 28. When Baker and Gent returned to their home after midnight, they accused the victim of being a snitch and thought she was a dog who needed to be taught a lesson. They believed that the babysitter reported their friend to police over a car theft.
They tied her up with a dressing gown cord, gagged her with an onion before forcing her into the boot of their car. They then drove to the house of their friends, Patrick James Breen, 25, and his fiancée, Stacey Gaffney, 23. The babysitter was then taken into a spare room where the couples repeatedly punched her in the face, kicked her in the stomach and threatened to have her fingers cut off.
The girl was treated like a dog during her 16-hour ordeal. She was locked in a closet and was dragged with a dog leash around her neck and a squeaky toy in her mouth. She was also forced to eat dog food while the quartet filmed her.
The Daily Mail reports the victim was forced to drink bleach, smoke methamphetamine and inhale butane gas among other things. Prosecutor Kelly Smith said they led the victim believe that she was going to be “raped and killed.” While they were abusing the girl, Gaffney’s 2-year-old son was in another room of the house.
Their sadistic abuse only ended when the victim was rescued by the police at 9:09 p.m. on June 17. The police was tipped off by the mother of the victim’s housemate.
The couples previously admitted to the crime, as well as to stealing the victim’s mobile phone, bank card and other belongings worth up to $2,500. The judge determined Gent as the group leader and therefore handed him nine years, two months and one week in jail. Baker was sentenced to six years and two months, and Breen received three years and 11 months, Adelaide Now reports. Gaffney was believed to have had a passive role. She received a 14-month suspended sentence.
“This innocent, defenceless young woman was subjected to a terrifying ordeal lasting nearly 18 hours, during which she was variously tortured, humiliated and degraded,” Costello said. “The prosecution rightly described this entire episode as a campaign of terror and torture.”
