The $40,000 kidnap plan: Victim tortured for two days for money that didn't exist

A man was stabbed with a screwdriver while being held hostage for two days. Photo / 123RF

A woman has been jailed for kidnapping a man, holding him hostage for two days and assaulting him with a screwdriver after a plan to rob him of $40,000 went awry.

Beverley O'Keeffe hatched the plan in August 2020 after hearing the victim was in possession of a large sum of cash.

She and two associates kidnapped him, locked him in a room and periodically over the next two days assaulted him with a screwdriver and threatened him with a knife while they questioned him about where the money was.

But he didn't have it and never did.

His captors refused to take him to hospital while they questioned him about the location of the money, instead giving him fruit, water and painkillers.

At some point on August 10 they took $500 from his wallet and tore his car apart to try and find more cash. They put a knife to his neck, stabbed him with a screwdriver and then turned him loose two days later.

He was found by police staggering around at a property in Palmerston North when they executed a search warrant there.

The Crown claims O'Keeffe, a local meth dealer, was the ringleader in the plan to extract the money from the victim in relation to drug dealing.

"The plan was to retrieve the money and the situation escalated out of control. You did not plan any of that," Judge Bruce Northwood said while sentencing O'Keeffe today in the Palmerston North District Court.

"Things were definitely not stopped and were allowed to continue."

Judge Northwood said drug use had been a prevalent theme of O'Keeffe's life and addiction was a way of dealing with trauma.

Her lawyer Lucie Scott told the court that she was ashamed and embarrassed and wishes she could turn back time.

"She wishes none of this had ever happened."

O'Keeffe was sentenced to three years and two months imprisonment after pleading guilty to kidnapping, wounding with intent, money laundering and possession of methamphetamine, firearms and cannabis.

One of her co-offenders, Darin Field, also appeared before the court and was given a sentence of eight months home detention for his role in the plan.

He pleaded guilty to money laundering, possession of cannabis, assault and kidnapping in December last year but maintained he only had a supporting role.

"He had a strong sense of loyalty to O'Keeffe, but he wasn't involved in her drug dealing," his lawyer Simon Hewson told the court.

"He accepts that his presence at the time of the assault can be seen as supporting or encouraging the actions of O'Keeffe."

At one point in the two days Field came into the room where the victim was being held hostage and gave him a blanket. He also stood guard at the door, preventing the victim from leaving the room.

"He had no involvement in the planning, wasn't part of the abduction but he was present when some of the assaults took place," Hewson said.

Another man allegedly involved in the offending has denied any involvement in the plan and the offending.