Ethan Davis: 'Immature' superyacht worker avoids jail for kidnapping

A superyacht worker has been spared jail after he intimidated, kidnapped and threatened his ex-girlfriend with a knife while forcing her to delete incriminating evidence.

Ethan Davis, 24, faced Gosford District Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to a raft of domestic violence charges committed after the woman broke up with him in August 2023.

When the woman tried to distance herself from him, he dressed in all black, wore latex gloves and laid in wait for her to finish work in Sydney about 9pm.

Davis grabbed the woman while she resisted and screamed for help and chased her down to cover her mouth after she broke free.

He shoved her into a car and forced her to delete incriminating messages and photos from her phone while armed with a multi-tool with a knife blade extended.

When the woman asked why he was wearing gloves and what he was going to do to her, Davis replied that he didn’t “want to leave fingerprints”.

Judge Miiko Kumar said the kidnapping was the culmination of a series of “opportunistic” domestic violence offences committed by Davis over a week.

“This was not protracted domestic violence but rather they were impulsive acts which were serious offences … but they were committed by an immature 22-year-old,” she said.

She found Davis was motivated by fear he would lose his job if the messages - which included a threat to distribute a nude video - were revealed.

In the lead-up to the kidnapping, he had bombarded the woman with more than 200 calls and dozens of messages which threatened her with consequences if she didn’t answer her phone.

He transferred $0.01 into the woman’s bank account with the message “answer your phone” and threatened to break into her house to get to her, the court was told.

“This would have been extremely terrifying for the victim,” Judge Kumar said.

The woman told the court she has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder as a result of the ordeal and cannot sleep peacefully or walk alone to her car at night anymore.

Davis previously apologised to his ex-girlfriend in court, telling her he felt terrible about his actions and would take them back if he could.

“I don’t justify my behaviour. I shouldn’t have done any of it … it’s shameful,” he told a therapist.

Judge Jumar accepted Davis was genuinely remorseful for his actions and had acknowledged the damage caused to his ex-girlfriend by his illegal conduct.

She cited his youth, his clean record, his engagement with therapy and the assessment he was unlikely to reoffend as evidence he had good prospects of rehabilitation.

The judge sentenced Davis to a three-year intensive correction order to be served in the community and directed him to participate in a domestic violence prevention program.

She also ordered him to abstain from drugs, which the court was told he was using up to four times a week - funded by selling his possessions - in the lead-up to his arrest.

Taking into account the 10 weeks Davis spent behind bars on remand until he was released on bail, his sentence will expire in September 2028.

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