A MAN who tracked a homeless woman down to a public toilet in a Singleton park, choked her until she "blacked out" and then drove her around intermittently assaulting and threatening her before she jumped from a moving vehicle to raise the alarm will be released from jail in two weeks.
Luke John Gore, now 30, was jailed for a maximum of three years and six months, with a non-parole period of one year and nine months, which means with time served he will be eligible for parole on September 6.
Gore had pleaded guilty to intentionally choking a person with recklessness, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and intimidation after the DPP agreed to withdraw a kidnapping charge as part of the super callover proceedings.
According to an agreed statement of facts, the victim and Gore became friends in 2017, and moved into a unit in Singleton together in 2019 when the victim broke up with her partner and became homeless.
After a few weeks, the woman "had enough" and decided to leave and began sleeping in parks around Singleton.
It was about 4pm on November 18, 2019, and the victim was in a public toilet at a park in Hunterview when Gore came in and demanded she get in his car.
The victim refused to go with him and Gore became angry, pushing his way into the cubicle and grabbing the victim around the throat while she was sitting on the toilet.
"The victim felt him squeeze his hands around her throat and that was the last thing she remembers before blacking out," according to an agreed statement of facts.
Gore then grabbed the victim's belongings and the pair walked out to his ute, got in and drove off.
They drove around Singleton, with Gore using one hand to drive and the other to strike the woman in the face and eye.
He also made various threats, including saying things like: "I'm going to kill you. I'm going to shave your head so you'll have no hair."
The victim was scared and didn't know what to do so she told Gore she was hungry and asked to be driven to McDonald's.
He agreed and they went through the drive-thru where staff noticed Gore acting aggressively and the victim appearing distressed. "Gore was heard to say that he was going to kick the victim's head in, that she looked terrible, that she was a dropkick," according to court documents.
And as they drove away, staff saw Gore slap the victim in the face a number of times.
As they were heading out of the McDonald's car park the victim pleaded to be taken home, a request Gore ignored.
He again threatened to shave her hair off and at that moment the woman made a desperate bid for freedom, jumping from the car suddenly and landing on the road.
She ran back to the McDonald's and raised the alarm.
"I'm going to kill you. I'm going to shave your head so you'll have no hair."
Luke John Gore told a homeless woman in November, 2019.
