The sentencing of a NSW woman who helped her boyfriend kidnap, hold hostage and rape and bash another woman after feeding her a drug-laced cheeseburger has been delayed.
The 22-year-old, who cannot be named, appeared in the Newcastle District Court on Friday for a sentencing hearing, but the case was adjourned for a Community Corrections Office sentencing assessment report to be prepared.
The woman has pleaded guilty to a number of charges including kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault in company and assault causing actual bodily harm.
Her co-accused, father-of-10 Douglas Dixon, has pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault in company and inflicting actual bodily harm and will be sentenced later in the year.
Judge Mark Marien adjourned the case on Friday to June 10 for mention when a new sentencing hearing date would be fixed.
The Crown case against the couple is they abducted their victim, a 28-year-old woman, from her home in April 2020, before locking her inside a bedroom at Dixon's Telarah apartment and drugging and raping her.
The victim had failed to pay a $750 drug debt while she was waiting for a Centrelink payment.
In a statement of facts tendered to the court, police said Dixon dragged the victim out of her home about 8pm on April 13, 2020.
When they arrived at Dixon's unit, his girlfriend was inside with her three children.
The victim said at one stage during the night she was given a cheeseburger which tasted funny.
She said when she began eating the burger, Dixon's girlfriend laughed.
The victim became drowsy before passing out on the lounge. When she woke up, Dixon repeatedly punched her in the head and ribs and hit her with a baseball bat.
Dixon then threw the woman on to a bed and began raping her as his girlfriend was lying naked next to them.
The girlfriend told the victim: "Let him do it. He does it to me every day."
The victim was also made to perform oral sex on the girlfriend during her ordeal.
Dixon told the victim he planned to keep her hostage for seven days before she passed out.
After Dixon and his girlfriend later left the apartment with the three children, the victim woke up the next morning to find she couldn't open the bedroom door as it had been tied shut from the outside.
She managed to open a window and call out to neighbours for help.
The victim was taken to John Hunter Hospital, where she was found to have suffered a broken eye socket, a punctured lung and severe bruising.
She told hospital staff how the couple kept waking her up and "making me eat the cheeseburger and I didn't want to".
