The victims of a kidnapping will receive $9000 in reparation, and their abductor has been sentenced to 18 months in jail.
Henry Crichton, 25, from Hastings, appeared in the Napier District Court yesterday for sentencing on two charges of kidnapping and one of wounding with intent to injure on April 24.
The $9000 was paid to the court this week by Crichton's family, who asked that $6000 go to the teenager he injured with a boning knife and the rest to the other complainant.
One of the victims was the sister of a woman Crichton had been in a relationship with. The court had been told that Crichton told the complainants he had assaulted the woman. He then drove them to a spot alongside the Ngaruroro River, where he held them against their will for about an hour.
Judge Tony Adeane said Crichton's actions defied rational explanation, saying his interrogation of the pair was "paranoid and quite disturbed". The judge gave the prisoner leave to apply for home detention.
- NZPA
