'Go into the shed, you're missing out on all the fun': second convicted kidnapper gives evidence in Mount Hutton torture trial

Kyna McAuley is on trial accused of detaining and assaulting a woman at Mount Hutton in May, 2021.

A MAN jailed for his role in the abduction and torture of a woman in the back shed of a home at Mount Hutton has given evidence that he saw Kyna McAuley holding a grinder "centimetres" away from the alleged victim's face.

The man, the second convicted kidnapper to give evidence in the trial of Ms McAuley and Madden Paynter this week, said he woke up at the house on Kestrel Avenue on May 5, 2021, and saw Ms McAuley and the alleged victim walk into the shed.

"I was told I should go into the shed, you're missing out on all the fun," the man gave evidence. "I was told Kyna had [the alleged victim] in the shed and was going to hurt her with a grinder. Kyna was going to cut her up with a grinder."

The man said he thought it was a joke and was having a cigarette when he heard the sound of the grinder and went into the shed to see the alleged victim on her knees on a tarp with her hands up to her face.

When asked how close Ms McAuley was to the alleged victim, the man replied: "Centimetres. She had the grinder up to her face".

The man claims he intervened, "rushing over" and grabbing the grinder from Ms McAuley.

The man, who pleaded guilty to his role in the kidnapping and was jailed for at least 18 months, is the second kidnapper to give evidence about seeing Ms McAuley with a grinder inside the shed.

However, both men claimed they were the one who intervened and disarmed her of the power tool.

The second convicted kidnapper, who started his evidence on Wednesday, said he went in and out of the shed on the day the alleged victim was being detained and at various times saw her tied up with cable ties, with a rope around her neck and claimed he saw Ms McAuley strike the alleged victim in the mouth with something.

"At that stage I think [the alleged victim] blacked out," the man gave evidence. "I noticed she had a tooth missing."

He also claimed the other captors were worried the alleged victim would go to police if she was released and said one of the kidnappers held a bottle of methadone and said: "this should be enough to knock her".

He said he helped the alleged victim, letting her go to the toilet and getting her food and clean clothes, but also wouldn't let her go.

When it came time for them to drive the woman from the house at Mount Hutton, the man admitted he told the alleged victim: "If you go to the police... you'll end up dead."

The alleged victim gave evidence last week, claiming she was detained for about 24 hours and tortured in the back shed of the home in Kestrel Avenue, during which she says her captors struck her with a hammer, poured boiling water on her head and burnt her with a cigarette.

The woman said she was terrified she was going to be killed and wet her pants when Mr Paynter allegedly pinned her down and held out her arm while Ms McAuley started a grinder and approached "as if she was going to cut off her arm".

She was tied up, had her teeth knocked out and was repeatedly threatened with death, "a lobotomy" or to be injected with drugs before she was dumped near bushland at Eleebana, the jury has heard.

The trial has heard the alleged kidnapping and assault stemmed from a minor car accident that the woman had while driving around the young daughter of Ms McAuley.

Ms McAuley and Mr Paynter have pleaded not guilty to a charge relating to the abduction and the trial in Newcastle District Court is focusing on what happened inside the shed on May 5 and 6, 2021, and who was present.

The trial continues.

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