A Tasmanian man who left a teenager tied up in a locked shipping container, threatened him with a chainsaw to his neck and later told the boy's father, "you'll never see your son again" if supposedly stolen items weren't returned, a court has heard.
On Friday, Wayne Michael Ludbey, 32, was jailed for what the judge described as "premeditated violence carried out for vindictive reasons".
Ludbey pleaded guilty in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in Burnie to two counts of assault for the 2023 attack on the 17-year-old, which started around midday on September 12.
During sentencing, Justice Tamara Jago said that, despite the guilty plea, she did not accept that Ludbey had demonstrated remorse or shown insight into the seriousness of his crimes.
The court heard that Ludbey believed the teenager had been stealing from the shipping container on his property at Strahan on Tasmania's West Coast.
Justice Jago told the court that on the day, Ludbey saw the boy and believed he was wearing work boots stolen from the container.
Ludbey then texted his wife: "I'm waiting for him, I'm going to get him".
About half an hour later, Ludbey confronted the teenager on the street and began assaulting him and attempted to force him into his nearby vehicle.
Ludbey's younger brother Brady Ludbey then joined him in the attack, helping force the teenager into the car and allowing his elder brother to return to the driver's seat.
The younger brother was previously sentenced for his lesser part in the assault.
Justice Jago told the court Ludbey then drove the teenager to his property, accused him of the theft and demanded that his belongings be returned.
At the shipping container, the assault continued and the Ludbey brothers restrained the teenager with straps and zip ties bound around his hands and legs.
Ludbey then started a chainsaw, revved it, and held the chain against the boy's neck while it was not moving.
He then bashed the boy with a piece of wood to his arms and head, causing several injuries.
After spraying the boy with a hose, Ludbey and his younger brother locked the container with a chain and padlock, leaving the boy tied up inside.
The judge said a short time later that Ludbey, who had possession of the boy's phone, called the boy's father from it and issued the ultimatum about returning his possessions.
"You said, 'I want my stuff back or you'll never see your son again'," Justice Jago said.
"You were prepared to utter emotional threats to the complainant's father.
A short time later, Brady Ludbey freed the boy from the container, returned his phone and told him to go home.
The boy was taken to hospital with minor physical injuries, but Justice Jago said she had no doubt the psychological harm was "significant" and that he would have been "deeply traumatised".
At the outset of proceedings, defence lawyer Greg Richardson said it was his "privilege" to provide the court with 49 separate character references from people who supported Ludbey.
Justice Jago, however, said she found it "difficult to reconcile" the letters praising Ludbey's character with his "egregious behaviour".
She said that generally, people who are described as pillars of their community "do not behave in this way", although his character was supported by the fact he had not committed similar crimes before or since the attack.
However, she said Ludbey had not shown remorse and had demonstrated "a serious lack of insight into the gravity" of his crimes.
She sentenced Ludbey to 14 months' jail, of which 10 months were suspended for two years.
In court, Ludbey was supported by more than a dozen people, several of whom became emotional when he was jailed.
