Parole after a year for victim’s brutal torture
A woman will be eligible for parole less than a year after being sentenced for the sickening torture of a woman inside a Gold Coast unit.
Ingrid Pydde’s victim begged for her life and was so terrified that she wet herself during the horrifying ordeal at Biggera Waters on August 16, 2020.
Southport District Court was told Pydde had started questioning the woman about a “personal grievance”, then dragged her back inside when she tried to leave.
Pydde – allegedly with the help of a man also in the unit – spent the next hour assaulting the woman, beating her and slamming her body into the ground.
After throwing a towel at the victim and telling her to “stop bleeding everywhere”, Pydde put down a tarp and covered the woman’s head with a plastic bag, only tearing a hole in it for her victim to breathe after she pleaded that she had children and did not want to die.
Pydde taped over the woman’s eyes and jaw, bound her feet, and cut off her clothes before stuffing her naked and captive inside a suitcase that she zipped up and shut inside a cupboard.
Fearing that she was about to be thrown from the building, the victim unzipped the bag slightly – only for Pydde to burn her exposed finger with a blowtorch and threaten to stab her if she did not shut up.
The woman was released a short while later.
The court was told it was only weeks prior that Pydde and three others stormed a Coomera home, all dressed in black with balaclavas or head coverings and brandishing weapons – including knives and a gun.
Pydde and a female accomplice began rummaging through the house as the men in their group attacked a male resident.
But the violence soon escalated as the man fought back.
The 31-year-old was stabbed as she was chased out by the male victim, who she then cut on the neck with her own small knife.
Pydde’s blood was found at the scene and she was the only one identified and charged.
A victim impact statement from a female resident who was also stabbed during the home invasion was tendered in court, revealing she had suffered significant emotional trauma and outlaid large sums for mental health treatment.
Pydde – supported by her mother and brother in court – appeared with a lengthy criminal history, including a previous jail sentence for shooting a man after a drug deal.
Defence barrister Nicholas Brown said his client’s offending was fuelled by drug use at the time, though she was not said to be addicted to any substance.
Mr Brown said the suicide of her cousin when she was 14 had a “profound effect” on Pydde and had impacted the trajectory of her life since.
He told the court Pydde was well-educated and completed several programs throughout the almost two years she spent in custody, with hopes of returning to her previous work in Melbourne upon release.
Pydde pleaded guilty to torture, burglary while armed and in company and assault occasioning bodily harm while armed and in company.
She was sentenced to 7½ years’ jail with parole eligibility from February 8, 2025, having already served more than 700 days in custody.