A disabled man nearly died after being kidnapped and tortured in Geelong in a case a judge has described as one of the worst he has ever seen. Lara ice addict Timothy Mason held the 34-year-old Asperger’s sufferer captive during a frightening 19-hour ordeal which involved various ransom demands to the victim’s associates. Mason even filmed part of his terror on a mobile phone, taunting the victim and two others as one of them cowered on the ground in fear. The kidnapping victim spent two weeks in an induced coma after being rescued by a passing car as he stumbled bloodied and shirtless onto the Princes Freeway at Lara. Judge Michael Bourke told the Geelong County Court yesterday the incident in February last year was one of the most brutal he had seen during his 40-year legal career. “It is a breathtaking series of events,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve seen or been aware of such savage treatment of a human being. It’s just astonishing.” Mason, who was 25 at the time, has pleaded guilty to a series of charges including kidnapping, extortion and intentionally causing serious injury. The court heard the incident was sparked when one of the victim’s associates told Mason’s girlfriend about an affair he was having. Crown prosecutor Sharn Coombes said Mason went to confront the man at a home on Harpur Rd, Corio, about 6am on February 2 last year. Armed with a police-style baton, Mason forced his way inside and viciously assaulted the man and two others at the home. Before being kidnapped, the main victim was forced to hand over his phone, which Mason used to record a 20-second video. The disturbing vision was played in court yesterday and showed the labourer abuse the men — some of them bleeding — as one of them cried on the ground. Among a torrent of abuse, Mason can be heard yelling: “I’ll kick the f— out of you, you little dog. What did you say to my missus?” Soon after the recording finished, Mason began making demands for cash but, without any money on them, one of the men offered to go to an ATM. He left with Mason and, after being driven to multiple homes in Geelong’s north, was told he had been taken hostage and could not leave until the two other men paid for his release. Ms Coombes said the victim sent three Facebook voice messages to his associate that warned he would be stabbed unless the man signed over his car to Mason and provided his iTunes password. Mason later took possession of the car and the victim was released, but his ordeal was far from over. Later that night, as he walked to the train station, the man bumped into Mason and was forced into a car, before being told: “You’re my hostage again.” The victim was forced to withdraw $190 from an ATM before being driven to a Smeaton Close house where Mason lived with his partner and several young children. For up to two hours, the man was locked in a laundry and repeatedly kicked and punched by his attacker. Ms Coombes told the court a 12-year-old girl at the home witnessed the victim screaming and covered in blood. The ordeal finally ended about 1am on February 3 when Mason abandoned the victim in a car near the Princes Freeway. After being rescued, the victim spent a month in hospital with significant injuries to his face and ribs. Mason was arrested soon after and has been in custody ever since. Barrister Neville Rudston said his client was a raging ice addict who suffered an acquired brain injury after being hit by a bus as a child. Mason, now 26, will be sentenced when he returns to court in May.
