Torturers sentenced to eight years in jail
TWO men who kidnapped and tortured another man over an alleged drug debt have been sentenced to eight years behind bars.
They will be eligible to apply for parole on January 13, 2016.
Stephen Wood, 37, and Jack Reihana, 43, pleaded guilty in the Ipswich District Court last week to a string of offences stemming from the incident on January 12 last year.
Judge Deborah Richards said at the time she needed the weekend to consider what punishment to impose on both men.
The sentencing was transferred to the Brisbane District Court on Monday where she sentenced both men to eight years behind bars.
She declared the 574 days the two men had already spent in custody as time served.
Crown Prosecutor Dzenita Balic told the court last week the men had tortured their victim for hours including branding him with red-hot wires and smashing his hand with a hammer.
She said the victim allegedly owed Wood money.
Ms Balic told the court the two men drove to the man's Short St home to teach him a lesson.
When they arrived, Wood and Reihana abducted the 24-year-old man and took him to a property in Purga, where the ordeal continued.
"Once they reached the Purga address, the victim had already been punched a number of times and was bleeding and having difficulties moving his arms," she said.
"The man was grabbed by the hair and had his head smashed into a veranda post.
"He was then beaten with a barbecue hot plate."
Ms Balic said after that the man's hand was bound in cling wrap and struck with a sledge hammer.
"The blow fractured his fingers and bent them out of shape," she said
"Reihana then heated a wire and burned the left cheek of the victim."
Ms Balic said Wood phoned the victim's mother and said he would send her son to her in pieces if she did not pay his debt.
"The mother, fearful for her son's life, transferred the money," she said.
"Once the money was paid the victim was taken to hospital."