WA man sentenced over horror kidnap of two little boys from sleeping beds
A Perth court has heard for the first time the horrific details of how a man in Western Australia snatched two young children from their beds as they slept in 2023; This led the judge to compare the crime to the kidnapping of four-year-old Cleo Smith.
Jonathan Richard Anthony, 36, was sentenced in the Perth District Court on Friday for the incident in which he donned a wig and mask before breaking into a neighbor’s home to get an eight-year-old boy out of bed in the early hours of the morning.
The man was convicted by the Perth District Court.Credit: Elliahn Blenkinsop
Anthony took the boy to his home and told him to stay there or he would kill him, before returning for his 12-year-old brother.
The court heard the older boy resisted Anthony half-carrying and half-walking him out of the house in the early hours of March 31, eventually running away and raising the alarm.
Three hours later, police and a small group of people came together to search for the boy, who was found in Anthony’s house and heard him screaming “help me, help me, I’m here.”
At that time, Anthony made the boy drink beer and then took a photo of his bare buttocks. When the child begged to go to the toilet, he was told no and that he could “just wipe himself.”
The entire interaction was recorded on CCTV cameras installed by Anthony at his own home and later watched by sentencing judge Seamus Rafferty.
“This was every parent’s worst nightmare,” he said.
“I can see from that boy’s face how scared you are.
