Albury kidnap terror: 'I'm gonna chain you'

Josh Beau Sweeney, 23, unemployed, of Perry Street, is said to have gone to the Manor House Motel in Young Street with a co-accused, armed with a “mini” crowbar.

There, it is alleged, he chased the young woman, 18, tackled her to the ground, pulled her hair and punched her in the head and face.

Albury Local Court was told yesterday — when Sweeney successfully sought bail — that the girl had been heard screaming during an assault that lasted for up to four minutes,

It heard that Sweeney had dragged her to the car and his co-accused drove from the motel to a Perry Street park where Sweeney made a phone call.

The teenager said Sweeney had said to the person he phoned: “Well come and help me kill her”.

Sweeney is alleged to have then punched the teenager to the left eye and twice more in the head before the co-accused drove them to Sweeney’s Perry Street home.

There Sweeney is said to have told the girl: “I’m gonna chain you up and not let you go anywhere. 

“You’ll be lucky if you see the light of day.”

The woman managed to text a friend who contacted police.

She was “visibly shaking” and Sweeney was arrested when police arrived about 3pm.

Sweeney faces four counts related to the girl’s alleged kidnapping and detention, assault and being armed with intent to commit an indictable offence.

In facts tendered to the court, the teenager said that she had earlier given Sweeney $1050 for cannabis but she had not received it.

She and a male friend had stayed at the Manor House on Tuesday night.

Next day she had asked Sweeney by text to meet her at an Albury location, where they would lure Sweeney back to Perry Street.

There a third person would break in for a “drug rip”, where drugs would be taken.

But Sweeney had not left his home and the woman had gone to Sweeney’s home at midday.

Sweeney was asleep so the woman and her friend gathered possessions she had left there the day before and returned to the motel car park.

Sweeney told police his car was missing when he woke about 2pm and he and his co-accused drove to the motel in the other person’s car.

Sweeney claimed that while he had taken the woman’s arm and they had argued, she had willingly gone with him, but he denied assaulting her.

Police said the woman had swelling to her right eye, soreness to her face and head and a grazed knee.

Police prosecutor Sgt Shannon Lewis opposed bail for Sweeney, who is on a bond for indictable offences.

Sgt Lewis said there were concerns for the woman’s welfare and for the community.

“There is a strong prosecution case and, if convicted, it is highly likely he will face a custodial sentence,” she said.

Sweeney’s solicitor, Andrea MacDonald, said her client had strong ties to the region and would live with his mother in Albury.

Magistrate Megan Greenwood said that while she was concerned Sweeney could offend again, she would grant him bail if he attended the first available appointment with his GP and complied with treatment directions involving alcohol, drugs and his physical and mental health.

He is not allowed to contact his co-accused, the woman or her male friend. He must live with his mother and stay indoors from 8pm to 8am unless with a parent or a carer.

Sweeney will return to court on October 8.