A man has been jailed for kidnapping a middle man in a drug deal that went awry at a hotel carpark.
Numurkah’s Dylan Ferguson pleaded guilty in the County Court to charges of false imprisonment, common assault and possessing a drug of dependence.
A sentencing hearing last month heard the 23-year-old and three others drove to the hotel carpark at 3am on November 21, 2014, to score an ‘eight ball’ of methamphetamine through contact Daniel Yakoub.
Ferguson paid $1100 for the drugs from a dealer in a white van at the carpark. But after sampling the drugs, he confronted Yakoub, demanding his money back. The dealer had already left the scene.
When Yakoub said he did not know the driver of the van, Ferguson punched him in the face. He then demanded he repay the money within 30 minutes and grabbed a metal pole from his car.
Yakoub got in the car with Ferguson and his three accomplices. All four punched Yakoub and threatened him with a knife as they drove around the western suburbs of Melbourne, including St Albans, Sunshine and Taylors Lakes.
Yakoub overhead Ferguson tell somebody on the phone he was going to hold Yakoub to “teach him a lesson”.
The group stopped at Bunnings in Sunshine about 8.15am to buy cable ties and bound Yakoub’s wrists.
He was then tied to a tree in Mount Cottrell with a rope, had bottles thrown at him, and was kicked and punched.
He was eventually cut loose, and Yakoub made his way to a friend’s home about 10.30am, his hands still bound.
Ferguson was arrested at his Numurkah home on December 2.
After serving five months jail, Justice Elizabeth Gaynor said Ferguson must complete an 18-month community corrections order and 150 hours of unpaid community work.
