{"id":486597,"date":"2026-01-02T07:32:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T07:32:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/486597\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T07:32:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T07:32:13","slug":"man-who-kidnapped-boy-from-moora-home-given-eight-year-prison-sentence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/486597\/","title":{"rendered":"Man who kidnapped boy from Moora home given eight-year prison sentence"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man who kidnapped an eight-year-old as he lay sleeping in bed and tried abduct his 12-year-old brother has been sentenced to eight years\u2019 jail by a Perth judge.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Richard Anthony was wearing a balaclava when he carried the younger boy from his Moora home in WA’s Mid West in the early hours of March 31, 2023.<\/p>\n

Anthony tried to kidnap the boy’s brother as well, walking him from his bed and holding him under his arms, but the older boy managed to escape the man’s clutches when they reached the patio.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old detained the younger child in his home for three hours,\u00a0forcing him to drink beer and threatening to kill him.<\/p>\n

The District Court heard the boy tried to leave but Anthony would grab him and tell him to sit down.<\/p>\n

\"Close<\/p>\n

Jonathan Richard Anthony abducted the boy from his home in Moora before returning for his brother.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 (ABC News: Herlyn Kaur\u00a0)<\/p>\n

The events were captured on CCTV in Anthony’s home.<\/p>\n

The child was found after he called out for help and family members alerted police.<\/p>\n

Boy ‘absolutely terrified’<\/p>\n

Judge Seamus Rafferty said the detained boy was “absolutely terrified”, describing the offending as extremely serious.<\/p>\n

He told Anthony the one place on earth where the boys should have felt safe was in their beds, and he had violated that “in the most egregious way”.<\/p>\n

Judge Rafferty said Anthony was experiencing “significant psychosis” at the time.<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

Anthony was sentenced in the District Court of WA in Perth. (ABC News: Jack Stevenson)<\/p>\n

He said Anthony suffered from schizophrenia but had stopped taking medication for the condition in 2022 and continued to use illicit drugs.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Anthony was sentenced for arson, and the court was told then that his “heavy drug use” had impacted his mental health.<\/p>\n

Judge Rafferty said Anthony started using cannabis at the age of 10 and methylamphetamine from the age of 15.<\/p>\n

Hours before the child stealing, he had sniffed two 600-millilitre cans of butane.<\/p>\n

Anthony had described the impact of the butane as “like a bad batch of psychedelics” and thought “the TV was talking to me and stuff”.<\/p>\n

This led to a delusion that there were “aliens everywhere” and he had to “save the kids”.<\/p>\n

‘Every parent’s worst nightmare’<\/p>\n

At the time of the kidnapping, the boys’ father had gone to Perth for work, and a friend was minding them.<\/p>\n

The prosecutor said that having a child taken from their bed was “every parent’s worst nightmare”.<\/p>\n

She said it was “something straight from the movies or a TV show”.<\/p>\n

Defence lawyer Frances Veltman said her client had “heard voices for 10 to 15 years”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Defence lawyer Frances Veltman told the court her client had delusions about aliens. (ABC News: David Weber)<\/p>\n

The judge accepted Anthony was remorseful, saying he was “horrified” over what he had done.<\/p>\n

But he said Anthony’s mental illness elevated the need to protect the community.<\/p>\n

Anthony, who pleaded guilty to multiple charges, will be eligible for parole after serving six years.<\/p>\n

His sentence was backdated to 2023.<\/p>\n

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