Zhen Jie Zhang, 55, admitted to the Southport District Court he had acted irrationally and said he wanted to formally apologise to his young victim, whose head he tied to a chair in 2018.

“I want to say I’m deeply sorry,” Zhang said through an interpreter.

“If you feel afraid please forgive me for that; your father was acting terribly [and] owed me a substantial amount of money.

“I felt I had no other option.”

Bundled into car while walking home

The boy, who was 12 years old at the time, was snatched from outside his house on a Friday afternoon in May 2018, as he walked home from Somerset College at Mudgeeraba.

He was bundled into a car and driven across the Queensland/New South Wales border.

An amber alert was issued and the boy was found in the back of the car the following day, 240 kilometres away in Grafton, after police received information from the public.

At the time, detectives said the boy was treated for scratches “consistent with being bound”.

Prosecutor Matt Hynes told the court the boy had had a mask placed over his head and had been given water only twice during his 16 hours of captivity.

The boy had also made three attempts to escape.

“On the first [attempt] his ankles were tied; the second, a towel was placed in his mouth; the third, his head was tied to a chair with the rope around his neck,” Hynes said.

The court heard Zhang and the boy’s father had met in 2010 and gambled together.

The boy’s father had borrowed money from Zhang and also owed a substantial amount to casinos.

Hynes said Zhang had set about extorting the boy’s family over a period of three and half months, including sending threatening texts with the words: “Watch out… wait for pick up the body”.

In a victim impact statement tendered to the court, the young boy’s mother said her son went from being a happy-go-lucky boy to a child who was “sad, frightened and miserable”.

“She observes that when dark cars go near the house, [her son] hides under tables,” Mr Hynes said.

‘Frustrated’ at non-payment

Defence barrister Alastair McDougall said his client had no prior criminal history and his offending was born from desperation.

He said his client was trying to recover the money owed him to pay for his mother’s medical expenses and to put his own son through flight school.

“He became frustrated with the non-repayment of monies,” McDougall said.

In sentencing, Judge Katherine McGinness noted Zhang had already spent more than two and half years in custody.

She acknowledged his lack of English would have left him feeling isolated in jail.

Judge McGinness took into account Zhang’s lack of criminal history and his good character references.

She also highlighted the young age of his victim, saying he was significantly and adversely impacted by the crime.

Zhang will be eligible for parole in February.

– ABC / Sarah Cumming