A man who tortured a woman for several hours with three other men, forcing her to eat dog food, has been released from prison.
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Zane Andrew Henderson was jailed for two years over the 2014 attack at a Ravenswood unit, which was over a $100 debt.
The victim was assaulted, burnt with cigarettes, had fly repellent sprayed in her eyes, threatened, shot with a stun gun and bashed with a sock that contained a bar of soap.
Calling the woman a dog, Henderson forced her to eat pet food and the men used head lice treatment on her hair to “get rid of her fleas”.
Henderson, who was 18 at the time, punched and kicked the woman repeatedly and she suffered serious injuries, including several fractures to her face as well as bruising and burns to her body.
The 2016 trial was thrown out after one of the accused, whose name was suppressed, threatened a juror.
Justice Robert Pearce called a mistrial when the unnamed man - who was a youth at the time of the 2014 attack - gestured shooting at a juror and said “I can see another dog, bang, bang”.
The man was charged with contempt of court and jailed.
The two other accused, Jay Ashley Whatley and Coby Wells, were re-trialed and sentenced to 18 months behind bars in April last year.
Henderson eventually pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced in July last year.
Justice Shan Tennent described the crimes as “horrendous”.
“It involved what amounted to torture over several hours and a total lack of respect for another human being,” she said.
“You told [the victim] she was a dog and treated her like one, you behaved in the way you did effectively because you could and clearly with absolutely no thought for the suffering [she] must have gone through.
“You have exhibited no remorse.”
Publishing its decision this week, the Parole Board referred to Henderson’s substance abuse, lack of employment and history of trauma prior to his offending.
He became addicted to drugs at the age of 11 and was homeless at 13.
“In respect of his offending, the applicant advised that he had been drinking a lot prior to committing the assault,” a pre-parole report noted.
“He indicated he felt bad about committing the crimes.
“He hoped to commence work … when he had settled back into the community and also plans to consult a psychologist on his release.”
Henderson had previously ignored orders, having fled to Victoria while on a community-based order before the completion of his Supreme Court matters.
His prior convictions also included breaches of suspended sentences and multiple breaches of bail.
“The applicant, however, was classified as a minimum security prisoner in August 2017 and he has not been regressed since that time,” the parole decision read.
“He has been the subject of [prison] leave and there are no allegations of substance abuse within the prison system.”
Henderson was paroled from March 24 this year until March 24, 2019.
