A man has been charged with a raft of domestic violence offences, accused of kidnapping and assaulting his partner, who was allegedly chained to a bed to prevent her from ‘sneaking out’ at night.
Zane Woodward, 34, appeared in court on Thursday, two days after Broadie McGugan, 32, finally escaped from him and fled to the local police station in the NSW Illawarra region.
Harrowing details were laid bare in court, where police allege Ms McGugan was detained at an Oak Flats home and chained to the bed with a ‘heavy set, metal chain link padlocked to her right ankle’ and secured to the bed frame
She was unlocked from the bed only to eat and use the toilet, court documents allege.
The court heard that Wodward’s alleged torture began recently to prevent her from ‘sneaking out’ at night to have sex with other men.
Police allege the torture escalated in recent days, where Ms McGugan was chained up during the day and whenever Woodward left the house, news.com.au reported.
The alleged weeks-long ordeal finally ended on Tuesday afternoon when Ms McGugan fled from Woodward while they were at a local ATM to check a bank balance.
She hid in a nearby pharmacy and managed to flag down a customer to help her as Woodward allegedly drove up and down the street trying to find her.
Ms McGugan attended Lake Illawarra police station before she was taken to Shellharbour Hospital with extensive injuries.
They included broken ribs, bruising and fractured eye socket.
Woodward was arrested by police on Wednesday afternoon.
He was charged with kidnap with intent to commit a serious indictable offence, two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm – DV, take and detail a person with intent to obtain advantage, common assault and intimidation.
More to come.
