Three of the four people accused of attempted murder after allegedly abducting, torturing and throwing a disabled teen girl off a Sydney bridge are single parents of young children.
The revelation has prompted Imogen Gibson, the sister of victim Kayla Kendrigan, 19, to reveal how perplexed she is that any parent could allegedly hurt someone else's child or if found guilty, risk losing their own to potentially do jail time, reports news.com.au.
Ms Gibson told news.com.au that Ms Kendrigan was "still in a lot of pain" following the alleged attempted murder in Sydney's west last weekend.
"I don't understand how adults — mothers — could (allegedly) do such a disgusting thing to an innocent human being," Ms Gibson wrote on Facebook.
"(Kayla) had never done a thing wrong in her life … she's always been the nicest person to everyone."
Brooke Brown, 19, Matthew Leuthwaite, 22, a 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were this week charged with several offences including the attempted murder and aggravated kidnapping of Ms Kendrigan. If found guilty, they're each facing up to 25 years jail.
News.com.au can reveal Ms Brown and Mr Leuthwaite share a three-year-old son who lived with his mother, Ms Kendrigan and another person, in the house where the victim was allegedly tortured. It's understood the child was being looked after by a family member when the incident was alleged to have taken place.
Ms Brown's sister Karissa Lee Waldron said while her sister was behind bars she's "got to raise my nephew and tell him where his mummy is". News.com.au has contacted Ms Waldron for comment.
The 17-year-old co-accused girl, who can't be named for legal reasons due to her age, has a baby boy.
One Facebook user wrote that it was "sad that the two girls were mothers but could (allegedly) still do that to somebody else's child".
Mr Leuthwaite and another woman — who is not accused of any wrongdoing — are also parents to a little girl. News.com.au understands he also has a third child to another woman.
Ms Kendrigan was allegedly kidnapped from Ambarvale by a group of former friends and tortured for hours before she was thrown off a bridge in a murder attempt, police allege.
Court documents viewed by news.com.au claim Ms Kendrigan was forced into the boot of a car and driven about 50kms north to a house in Whalan. Once inside the home, the victim was tied to a chair, blindfolded, bashed with a bat, burned, punched, kicked, stabbed and had her hair hacked off, according to police.
The ordeal lasted several hours, allegedly at the hands of four people known to Ms Kendrigan, in the outskirts of Sydney, on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
News.com.au understands that Ms Brown and Ms Kendrigan met for the first time about two months ago. Ms Kendrigan, who previously lived on the NSW Central Coast, moved into the Whalan home with Ms Brown, her son, and another person, almost immediately.
One of Brooke's childhood friends told news.com.au the pair became fast friends.
"I've known Brooke for a while — we attended the same primary school together," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told news.com.au.
According to court documents, Ms Kendrigan was visiting a friend in Ambarvale in western Sydney on Saturday before she asked her housemate, Ms Brown, if she could pick her up and bring her home to Whalan. The pair had known each other for about two months and were relatively "new friends", sources close to them told news.com.au.
Ms Brown agreed to collect Ms Kendrigan but also brought along her ex-partner, Mr Leuthwaite, 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 during the drive to punch and "assault" Ms 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 Ms Brown's car and held her against her will before eventually throwing her off the bridge.
Court documents allege the group believed Ms Kendrigan, who police described as a "quietly spoken person with a below-average learning ability", had earlier called one of them "a dog".
Ms 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 about 5am, according to police. The drop was about 20 metres.
"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 Ms Kendrigan told news.com.au.
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 Ms 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 while having no regard to whether these actions bought about the death of the victim," police documents read.
A video emerged on Facebook yesterday allegedly taken during the kidnapping, which showed one of the alleged offenders demand Ms Kendrigan "get in the car (or) I'll drag you in the f**kin boot".
"Hurry the f**k up," the person continues.
Ms Kendrigan then goes to use her phone and screams for her "dad" to help as one of the group members snatches the device from her hands. Moments later she can be heard crying and screaming "just leave me alone".
Another clip shows a male yelling at the victim, as one person waves and another woman watches television inside a house. Ms Kendrigan can be seen tied to a chair with a phone charger cord as she is dragged through a hallway into another room.
"Don't smile this ain't supposed to be f**kin' fun," the man can be heard saying.
"This is the gronk that wants to call people f**kin' dogs … now she's tied up in a room like a c***… yeah, yeah that's how it works."
All four of the accused remain in custody.
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