Eight additional suspects were charged Monday in connection with the torture of a 17-year-old boy found tied to a tree in bushland outside Townsville in July.
Members of the public located the boy with serious injuries in bushland off Cape Pallarenda Road around 6:35 a.m. on Saturday, July 18, after he was allegedly assaulted and tied to a tree.
The boy was transported to Townsville University Hospital in a stable condition.
The victim was found zip-tied and wrapped in plastic, tied to a tree.
Investigators estimated that he was in the area for over five hours.
Three people were initially charged in late July.
On July 24, a 13-year-old Deeragun boy was charged with four offences including deprivation of liberty, assaults occasioning bodily harm whilst armed or in company, grievous bodily harm and torture.
On July 28, a 35-year-old Kirwan woman was located and charged with five offences including deprivation of liberty, assaults occasioning bodily harm whilst armed or in company, grievous bodily harm, torture and driving a motor vehicle without a driver licence.
She was remanded in custody and is due to appear before Townsville Magistrates Court on September 28.
A 14-year-old Kirwan girl also faced the same charges the boy received.
Senior Sergeant Dave Miles stated that the targeted assault began at a residence in the nearby suburb of Heatley, and assailants allegedly bashed the boy before dumping him in the bushland.
“This wasn’t a random attack, this was orchestrated by a cohort of individuals in relation to this young person,” Miles said.
Miles added that the individuals were “driving erratically around the Townsville area on the Strand, and there was a collision.”
Police allege the victim was kicked and whipped with a horse whip, then later struck with a bat and metal implement and stomped on, and was wrapped in industrial clear plastic with his legs zip-tied before being placed in a vehicle boot and dumped in bushland near Pallarenda.
The teenager required surgery for injuries including a broken nose, spinal fracture, fractured tibia, friction burns and lacerations.
On August 7, police charged eight additional suspects.
A 40-year-old Heatley woman, a 36-year-old Cranbrook woman, a 32-year-old Kirwan woman, a 30-year-old Heatley man and a 24-year-old Heatley man were all charged with one count each of deprivation of liberty, assaults occasioning bodily harm whilst armed or in company, grievous bodily harm and torture.
They were all remanded in custody and were to reappear in Townsville Magistrates Court on Monday, August 10.
Three teenagers also faced charges.
Two 15-year-old Kirwan boys were charged with one count each of deprivation of liberty, assaults occasioning bodily harm whilst armed or in company, grievous bodily harm and torture, and appeared at Townsville Children’s Court on August 8.
A 15-year-old Mount Low boy was charged with one count each of deprivation of liberty, assaults occasioning bodily harm whilst armed or in company, grievous bodily harm and torture and is due to appear at Townsville Children’s Court on August 14.
In a Townsville Magistrates Court hearing,
Magistrate Steven Mosch called the allegations “outrageous” and said the new charges represented an escalation.
Police prosecutor Harriet Hearn detailed the alleged assault to the court.
She told the court that relatives of the victim made allegations about him while people were gathered at a house, and the group had been socialising before the alleged assault.
One defendant’s lawyer, Sarah Belford, described the case as circumstantial and said her client was party to the offences rather than a participant, while police allege his fingerprints were found on the plastic wrap.
In the viral moment of discovery on July 18,
the severely injured 17-year-old boy was discovered zip-tied and wrapped in plastic in Australian bushland.
A jogger found the teenager bound to a tree off Cape Pallarenda Road in Townsville during the early morning hours.
The boy suffered several bone fractures from the attack and subsequently underwent multiple surgical procedures.
A total of 11 people have been charged in relation to the matter.