Knife culprit stabbed

Tables turned on kidnapper

A KIDNAPPER who took a youth at knifepoint had his “just desserts” when he was stabbed in the chest.

Guy Leonard Brewer, now 27, kidnapped the 17-year-old from Redlynch Shopping Centre with co-accused Jay Richard Beaumont, 26, last May.

Brewer grabbed the teen from his group of friends, brandishing a Leatherman pocket knife to quell any resistance from his prey.

Beaumont helped a drug and alcohol fuelled Brewer hustle the teen into the back of a van and took the wheel.

Cairns District Court heard Brewer made the youth take them to a mutual acquaintance, the actual target of the crime.

Crown prosecutor Aaron Dunkerton said Brewer wanted to confront the friend about money.

He told the court that Brewer threatened the teen throughout the 6km drive, pressed a knife against his throat and said “don’t make me put a hole in you”.

He also threatened to kill their acquaintance while Beaumont threatened to kill the youth’s father.

In an ironic twist, when Brewer and Beaumont arrived at their target house a resident ran out and stabbed Brewer in the chest.

Mike Dalton, defending, said on the day of the kidnapping, Brewer’s Italian girlfriend had been deported and he took solace in familiar substances.

“He made a stupid decision,” Mr Dalton said.

Brewer, no stranger to violence, had a criminal history including obstructing police, the attempted glassing of a security guard with a broken bottle, escaping from custody, stalking, choking a dog and beating up a park busker.

Mr Dalton said his client’s stabbing could be considered “extra-curial justice”.

“Some may say his just desserts,” Mr Dalton said.

Beaumont had been in Cairns for a music festival and was living in his van when he joined the ill consid- ered plan, which was hatched over takeaway pizza.

Judge Dean Morzone said the victim suffered PTSD after the “spontaneous and opportunistic” kidnapping.

“It has affected his way of life,” Judge Morzone said.

He said that Beaumont – a victim of childhood bullying – would understand “how serious ... it is debilitating”.

The pair pleaded guilty to kidnapping.

Judge Morzone released Beaumont, who had served 164 days of a 33-month sentence, on parole, and jailed Brewer for 30 months to be paroled in May.