By Tara Cosoleto, Aap, and Cam Lucadou-Wells
Two men and a woman have been jailed for tying up and beating a man for several hours in Noble Park over a $40,000 drug debt.
Piriho Abela, 22, punched the man and stole his car keys and wallet on March 19, 2021, after inviting the victim to his Dandenong home.
Abela assaulted the man for two hours as he demanded the $40,000 payment.
He then instructed an associate to drive the victim in the victim’s car to a Noble Park property.
At that house, the victim was tied up and his head was shaved as he was repeatedly assaulted by Abela and others.
Robert Eman, 41, and Amani Shbaro, 36, also joined in on the abuse, with Shbaro at one point holding a machete to the man’s leg.
An unknown person took the victim to Dandenong Hospital the next day for injuries including a fractured nose, multiple bruises and a swollen jaw.
Abela acted as a debt collector for Eman and Shbaro in a “premeditated and planned” attack, County Court Judge Kate Hawkins said on 17 June .
Abela, a young offender with no prior convictions, played a more serious role but Eman and Shbaro also instigated violence, Judge Hawkins said.
A jail term was the only appropriate sentence to denounce and punish such serious offending, the judge said.
Eman was jailed for 14 months and is already eligible for parole after serving 10 months in custody.
Shbaro was sentenced to nine months in prison with an 18-month community corrections order. She has already spent three months behind bars.
Abela, who has spent just shy of three months in custody, was jailed for 12 months and will be placed on an 18-month corrections order after his release.
Their CCOs include supervision, as well as drug and mental health treatment.
