A Wagga man who detained and assaulted six naked university students with a firearm and broke into a woman's hotel unit in a bid to evade police has been jailed for nine years and nine months.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Carl Little, 30, formerly of Ashmont, appeared in Wagga District Court on Friday for sentencing for the two incidents that occurred on March 23 and April 1 in 2020.
District Court Judge Gordon Lerve set a non-parole period for Little of six years and four months on charges of break and enter for intimidation, detain person to obtain advantage, and drug possession.
Judge Lerve said Little had faced multiple charges of detaining a person with intent of advantage in the form of psychological gratification and occasioning actual bodily harm and had been found guilty at trial.
"All charges stem from the incident at Gobbagombalin on the outskirts of Wagga in the early hours of March 23, 2020," Judge Lerve said.
"The victims were a group of [six male] Charles Sturt University students taking part in a hazing ritual involving walking naked back to campus after being dropped off a few kilometres away.
"The participants consumed excessive amounts of alcohol before surrendering their clothes except for shoes and socks and handing over their phones."
The students were walking along Old Narrandera Road when they saw a spotlight coming from a paddock and attempted to hide behind a fallen tree.
Judge Lerve said they were confronted by Little, who wielded a pistol or replica handgun and was accompanied by a woman, and he demanded they get on their knees and threatened to shoot them in the kneecaps.
"The victims clearly described the systematic method by which [Little] approached each of them and hit them in the head with a log of wood or branch," Judge Lerve said.
"Despite the courage of the victims it must have been terrifying.
"Given the presence of the weapon and the threats, the level of terror was considerable."
Little's defence had argued that he acted out of concern that the naked men posed a threat to his female companion and were trespassing but Judge Lerve found no evidence of this,
"Their conduct was unusual but does not amount to provocation," Judge Lerve said.
IN OTHER NEWS
The six students were treated at Wagga Base Hospital for various lacerations and blunt force trauma to the backs of their heads, foreheads and scalps.
Little was also sentenced for intimidation and drug offences at the Quest apartments in Wagga's Gurwood Street on April 1, 2020.
Police had learned that Little was staying at unit 1B at Quest and knocked on the door at about 9am.
Little's female companion told police that he was not there but officers saw male clothes in the unit and called for Little to come out with his hands up.
When police knocked on the door, Little forced entry to unit 1A through a locked door where a woman with no connection to the offender was in bed.
The woman left her bedroom and saw Little and heard him yelling at police about putting their guns away, who at that point had moved to the door of 1A and unlocked it but were held back by a security chain.
The woman was released from the unit during negotiations with police and told officers she was "so scared".
"She heard discussion of guns; it was frightening for her," Judge Lerve said.
Judge Lerve found that Little was remorseful and his offending had been influenced by a childhood that featured exposure to domestic violence, abuse and drug use, as well as his diagnoses of ADHD and post-traumatic stress.
Little has been in custody since April 1, 2020 when he was arrested after surrendering to tactical police after a one-hour standoff.
Judge Lerve determined that the sentence's commencement should be backdated to November 1, 2020 as Little had been convicted and jailed for 18 months while on remand for a separate case involving a charge of intimidating police.
Little will be eligible for parole in February 2027.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Download our app from the Apple Store or Google Play
- Bookmark dailyadvertiser.com.au
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletter