Young disabled woman allegedly tortured before being thrown off bridge.
A young disabled woman who was allegedly kidnapped by a group of former friends was tortured for hours before she was thrown off a Sydney bridge in an attempted murder, police allege.
Court documents viewed by news.com.au claim Kayla Kendrigan, 19, was subjected to a night of terror that included being forced into the boot of a car, driven to a house where she was tied to a chair, blindfolded, bashed with a bat, punched, kicked, stabbed and had her hair cut off.
Police say the ordeal lasted several hours, allegedly at the hands of four people known to Kendrigan, in Whalan on the outskirts of west Sydney, on Saturday night.
A video emerged on Facebook this morning allegedly taken during the kidnapping, which showed a male yelling at the victim, as one person waves and another girl watches television.
"Don't smile this ain't supposed to be f***in' fun," the man can be heard saying as Kendrigan is dragged through a hallway into another room, while tied to a chair with a phone charger cord.
"This ugly f***in' bitch here wants to call people f***in' dogs … now she's the c*** tied up in the room … yeah, yeah it's how it works."
Matthew Lewthwaite, 22, has been charged with attempted murder. Photo / Supplied
Court documents allege Kendrigan, who police described as a "quietly spoken person with a below-average learning ability", had earlier called one of the alleged offenders "a dog".
The footage appeared after Brooke Brown, 19, Matthew Lewthwaite, 22, a 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy — all known to Kendrigan — were charged with several offences including attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping.
Kendrigan, who was born without a left lower arm or hand, told police she was later forced back into the boot of the car, while still blindfolded and bound in the early hours of Sunday morning. She was then driven to Windsor Bridge and thrown off into the Hawkesbury River, according to police. The drop was about 20 metres.
Brooke Brown, 19, has been charged with attempted murder. Photo / Supplied
"A period of 5-6 hours, in what can best be described as 'torture of the victim', it was a group decision to dump the victim away from the premises so as not to come under police notice," court documents allege.
"As a result … of a birth defect … she would not be able to physically resist any attack or defend herself in a reasonable manner.
"The victim struggled to swim and float, managing to hold herself out of the water momentarily, and was able to make her way to the George St side of the river bank, and raise the attentions of persons at a nearby residence."
Police and paramedics were called to the scene and she was taken to the Nepean Hospital and treated for serious injuries. She has since been discharged, several sources close to Kendrigan told news.com.au.
According to court documents, Kendrigan was visiting a friend in Ambervale in western Sydney on Saturday before she asked her housemate, Brown, if she could pick her up and bring her home to Whalan.
Brown agreed but also brought along her ex-partner, Lewthwaite, the 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy, who can't be named for legal reasons due to their ages. Police will allege the group planned to punch and "assault" Kendrigan on arrival over an earlier verbal argument between the victim and the co-accused 17-year-old girl. But the incident allegedly took a much uglier turn when they instead forced her into Brown's car and held her against her will before eventually throwing her off the bridge.
According to police, the victim sustained "significant injuries" including two stab wounds to her lower legs, deep bruising to her head and face, soreness to her upper body and lower back, burn marks to her hand and severe emotional trauma.
Police will allege that Kendrigan was left for dead and that "the actions of the accused and co-accused was a group decision".
"(They) have demonstrated a common purpose in order to inflict extreme pain and suffering to the victim whilst having no regard to whether these actions bought about the death of the victim," police documents read.
The teen's sister, Imogen Gibson, told news.com.au that Kendrigan was "still in a lot of pain".
"She's heartbroken, and so is our family," Gibson said.
"I never will be able to understand why someone would do this to her. She was always sweet and gentle. She never got into fights or hit anyone.
"It pains my heart so much because my sister was born with one arm, so she has never been able to swim or fight, but she fought through that terrible night like a fighter."
Kendrigan's father Ian thanked authorities in a public Facebook post.
"I would like to say from the bottom of my heart a huge thank you to police and detectives you have done a fantastic job," he wrote.
