The day Kym Morrison's son disappeared will be etched in her mind forever.
She had spent 27 years caring and advocating for Joshua, who has an intellectual disability after being born with a brain injury.
Then one day, he didn't come home. She became filled with dread, stress and anxiety, until a call came through in the middle of the night.
A detective told her police had found Joshua, he was in hospital after being rescued from a house where he was held captive.
"I'm repulsed by what they did to Josh. Tied up ... and unable to defend himself whilst being tortured against his will," she told Victoria's County Court on Tuesday.
Over two hours in August 2021, Joshua Morrison was tied to a chair, blindfolded and then punched, kicked and threatened with knives by Shayne Smith for failing to pay him $14,000.
Mr Morrison believed he would die that night.
He was stripped of his clothes and burnt with jet lighters by Smith, known as "old mate" to his associates, who then ran an electric drill across Mr Morrison's heart.
Smith sent a friend, Krishneil Chand, a photo of Mr Morrison tied to a chair. Chand replied saying he was two minutes away.
Victoria Police special operations group officers found Mr Morrison with a gag tied across his face, trying to free himself of bindings in a chair, about 12.55am on August 8.
He was taken to hospital after suffering a significant head injury, cuts to his face, body and a drill hole on his chest muscle.
Officers arrested Smith, Chand and another acquaintance at the Dingley Village property.
Smith and Chand, both aged 28, appeared by video link in the court on Tuesday, where they pleaded guilty to their role in the ordeal, along with drug and weapon offences.
Both men were charged with unlawfully imprisoning Mr Morrison, with Smith charged with intentionally injuring him and Chand charged with unlawful assault in company.
Mr Morrison's mother Kym said her life had been turned upside down by the "sadistic and horrendous" ordeal.
Her son wasn't allowed visitors when he was taken to hospital after the kidnapping due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"When I finally picked him up he looked completely broken, black and blue. I really struggled with how anyone could be this cruel," she said in a statement read to court.
She hoped justice would be served on all of those involved, including another man, Darren Whittaker, who had earlier forced Mr Morrison to get into a toolbox, assaulted him and stole $35,000 worth of jewellery.
Smith and Whittaker have also admitted their role in a kidnapping a few months earlier, where another man was stripped naked and tortured for hours.
Whittaker will be sentenced on June 1, while Smith and Chand will learn their fate on June 9.
