Home invader free after his own scare
WHEN 41-year-old Craig Hughes went to a Bundall house to “scare” a man, he did not expect to become a victim.
But within moments of entering the house, Hughes was sliced open by a samurai sword and the roles were reversed.
So severe were the wounds to Hughes’s shoulder and arm, his life was only saved by the quick action of paramedics.
To add indignity to his pain, Hughes was later charged over the botched home invasion and, after spending time confined to a hospital bed, found himself locked in a prison cell.
Hughes and Bianca Williams, 30, were both sentenced in Southport District Court yesterday to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty but were released on parole immediately because of the time already spent behind bars on remand.
The court was told that in early 2015 mother-of-one Williams was in an abusive relationship and enlisted the help of Hughes and another man to scare her partner.
The Crown and the defence had differing accounts of the day but Judge David Kent accepted that when Hughes and the other man entered the house carrying or wearing face masks, Hughes was confronted by Williams’s sword-wielding partner, intent on defending his “castle”.
As well as the wounds to his shoulder and arm, Hughes suffered a collapsed lung.
Justice Kent said he had been lucky to survive.
“He struck you with the samurai sword that he had and did you a very serious injury,” Judge Kent said.
“It may be that you have the ambulance officers to thank for your life.
“I accept that it (jail) has been a very stressful experience for you.”
Williams’s partner also received an injury in the melee when he was hit on the head with a bottle by the other man, the court heard.
The court was told Williams, who works as a topless waitress and escort, had been in a number of abusive relationships and had shown her injuries to Hughes before the home invasion.
Judge Kent told Hughes he took into account the two and a half months he had served in pre-sentence custody, as well as the injuries he received in the incident, to decide on a term of 18 months imprisonment.
The judge said that while Williams played a vastly different role in the home invasion, he took into account her mental health problems, as well as the abuse she had received from a number of her partners in the past.
“It does come out of your difficult relationship with (your partner),” he said.