A woman who filmed herself terrorising an intellectually disabled and hearing impaired young woman, repeatedly bashing her, videoing her in the shower and stalking her before pulling her out of a car at Charlestown and assaulting her again walked from jail on Friday after successfully appealing against the severity of a 29-month jail term.
Crystal Rigg had spent more than a year behind bars since she was arrested for being one of the ringleaders of a group who waged a sustained and brutal attack on the intellectually disabled woman over a number of days in October 2020.
The other attackers were Rigg's partner, James Ryall, 37, Amanda Palmer and Caine Goffett, but the motivation for their repeated assaults is unclear, with court documents referencing a $70,000 trust account and "retaliation" for the victim "breaking up" Rigg and Ryall.
The victim was driven to Springfield on the Central Coast on October 8 and a few days later Rigg and Ryall returned and assaulted her, throwing tennis balls at her face and punching her in the head. Ryall placed his hands around the victim's throat and had to be physically restrained by one of the other attackers.
Rigg then recorded the victim in the shower, while two other videos show the victim being assaulted and abused by the group.
They also tracked her down at Charlestown a few days later, pulling up alongside a vehicle on the Pacific Highway and dragging the victim into Ryall's car.
She was assaulted and threatened, driven to bushland at Wallsend and assaulted again.
Rigg was jailed for a maximum of 29 months, with a non-parole period of 19 months in Newcastle Local Court in August but her solicitor, Mark Ramsland, lodged an appeal against the severity of the sentence.
And despite the seriousness of the offences, Judge Penelope Wass, SC, found Rigg's strong subjective case, including her developmental delay and childhood deprivation, meant the sentence could be converted to an intensive correction order (ICO), a sentence served in the community.
