Zhaohe Ge, Cheng Xin, Te Putu Hawkings: Chinese businessman’s Caversham kidnappers, torturers jailed | USAEMALL.com

A trio who kidnapped and tortured a Chinese businessman at a Swan Valley house in a multi-million dollar extortion plot have been handed substantial jail terms.

Zhaohe Ge, 39, Cheng Xin, 30, and Te Putu Tonga Patara Te Tuhi Hawkings, 33, subjected the 68-year-old victim to a terrifying, 50-hour ordeal at a Caversham Airbnb in April last year.

Ge and Xin met the man in Beijing and drew him into a business partnership, telling him they had money to invest, and he found them a rehabilitation resort in China.

The pair paid for the man to fly to Perth first-class, telling him a full “board meeting” to finalise the project would be held.

But at the Caversham property, Hawkings – described as a bodyguard who drove Ge and Xin around and ran errands – forced the man to the floor.

Over two days, he was punched, hit with a mallet, bound by chains and padlocks, blindfolded, had his mouth covered in tape and a cushion placed over his face, leaving him struggling to breathe.

Horrifyingly, he had an electric shock dog collar strapped around his neck and activated by remote control 20-30 times, and had a needle hammered into his left big toe after an attempt to pull off the nail with pliers failed.

The man was threatened with a kitchen knife and injection, and made to sit on a white plastic sheet on the floor.

As his captors demanded $3 million, they threatened to kill the man and his family, and he begged for his life.

He was forced to call his Sydney-based son, who was immediately worried that his father had been kidnapped, his suspicions roused because it was unusual for him to ask for any money “let alone such a large amount”.

The victim had not told his family he was in Australia, saying he was travelling within China, because he thought they would worry about him going that far.

But during a videocall, his father used the word “dodgy” — a colloquialism that gave away his Australian location —and a fridge in the background had the English language on it.

The son, who was then sent audio recordings of his father being tortured, contacted NSW Police.

“If you don’t sent the money, they will not allow me to leave. Discuss it with your sister and help me get out of this situation,” a text from his father read, arriving while he was at the police station.

The son was also sent images and videos designed to give the false impression his father had signed up to be a spy for China, which the offenders threatened to put on social media and tell authorities if the money was not paid.

Critically, the videos and images showed the same decor the son had seen in the earlier videocall — and were used to match photos from the property’s Airbnb listing.

The area had already been narrowed down by data from the trio’s mobile phones.

When police swooped, the injured victim was severely dehydrated and suffering symptoms similar to a heart attack, requiring treatment in hospital for several days.

He was also severely dehydrated and without medical intervention, would likely have been left with a permanent kidney injury requiring dialysis.

Judge John Staude said the plan was “somewhat sophisticated” but “hardly the work of criminal masterminds” given the son had been told Xin and Ge’s real names.

And those names, along with Hawkings, were signatories to their Australian Silk Road Investment Group company, which had a bank account where just $50,000 was sent by the victim’s children.

After the son said he could not raise millions, the amount being demanded fell to $100,000.

Judge Staude said the ordeal would have been terrifying for the man, who said in his victim impact statement that he was too distressed to describe it.

He did say he had thought “such torture only existed in the movies until it happened to him”.

Judge Staude described Hawkings as the henchman, saying he was motivated to buy his partner a good car and put their daughter through a fancy school.

Xin had accumulated big online gambling debts during Covid and the crimes were a “desperate attempt” to pay them off.

Ge needed to care for his parents, including paying off their debt, and also wanted show his in-laws he was capable of looking after them.

Xin and Ge were both jailed for eight years and nine months, with eligibility for parole after serving six years and nine months.

Hawkings got six years and six months, and will be eligible for parole after serving four years and six months.

Judge Staude said the alacrity with which NSW and WA Police investigated and swooped was “first class”.