A young man accused of the alleged abduction and torture of a disabled teen before throwing her off a Sydney bridge is a close relative of a high-profile murder victim who was gunned down in front of his family.
Matthew Leuthwaite, 22, Brooke Brown, 19, a 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy were last week charged with several offences including attempted murder in relation to the alleged attack on Kayla Kendrigan, 19, last month. The four co-accused remain in custody and, if found guilty, each face up to 25 years' jail.
News.com.au can exclusively reveal that Matthew is a relative of Devril Leuthwaite, a 17-year-old boy who was killed during an invasion by armed men at his Werrington family home in Sydney's west, on August 22, 2010.
Devril's brother Robert Leuthwaite Jr was also shot but survived, and their father, Robert Leuthwaite Sr, was wounded in the attack. A court later heard the incident was drug related. News.com.au does not suggest Matthew was involved with drugs.
Gavin Anthony Bell, who shot Devril dead with a sawn-off rifle, pleaded guilty to murder.
In sentencing, Justice Peter Hall said Bell had murdered a young man "on the threshold of his adult life".
The home invasion was "an outrageous piece of conduct arising out of a planned invasion" conducted solely for "personal gain in terms of money and drugs", Justice Hall said in 2013.
The judge accepted Bell did not set out with the intent to murder Devril, but shot him after he encountered "strong resistance" from the teenager.
The court heard Devril had shouted "stop shooting me" while he tried to protect his brother and baby niece.
Bell was sentenced to a maximum of 27 years and 10 months for murder, wounding Robert Leuthwaite Jr with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and assaulting Robert Leuthwaite Sr.
Gary Markham, who waited outside the home, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was jailed for at least three years after agreeing to testify against Guy Michael Carroll, who was later found not guilty by a jury.
Matthew was just a child at the time his family members were targeted in the home invasion. But fast forward eight years and it's now he — along with his ex-girlfriend Brooke Brown, 19, and two teenagers who can't be named due to their ages — is the one allegedly on the wrong side of the law.
The group is accused of kidnapping disabled teenager, Ms Kendrigan, and torturing her for hours before throwing her off a bridge in an alleged murder attempt on September 22.
According to court documents viewed by news.com.au, Ms Kendrigan was visiting a friend in Ambarvale in Sydney's southwest, 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.
Kayla Kendrigan spoke to A Current Affair about her ordeal. Picture: ACASource:Supplied
Ms Brown agreed to collect Ms Kendrigan but also brought along her ex-partner, Matthew Leuthwaite, the 17-year-old girl and 16-year-old boy.
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.
Court documents allege Ms Kendrigan was forced into the boot of a car and driven about 50km 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 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", according to police.
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 at about 5am, according to police. The drop was about 20m.
"A period of five to six 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 riverbank, and raise the attentions of persons at a nearby residence."
Emergency services were called to the scene and Ms Kendrigan was taken to the Nepean Hospital and treated for serious injuries. She has since been discharged.
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 documents 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.
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