Chilling detail in superyacht worker’s abduction of ex
Adelaide Lang |
A superyacht worker has admitted to abducting his ex-girlfriend and pulling a knife on her after she broke up with him.
Ethan Davis faced the NSW District Court on Wednesday flanked by his family to plead guilty to domestic violence offences committed after the breakdown of his relationship.
The 24-year-old was unable to accept it when his co-worker broke up with him in August 2023, according to the agreed facts.
He called the woman more than 200 times on various applications and bombarded her with messages, telling his former partner there would be consequences if she didn’t respond and saying he would break into her house to get to her.
When Davis threatened to release a naked video of the woman if she didn’t answer her phone, she warned him she would go to police with screenshots of his messages if he persisted.
The next night, he dressed in all black and wore black latex gloves as he lay in wait for her to finish work in Sydney about 9pm.
“You’re going to get in the car,” Davis said as he grabbed her while she resisted and screamed for help.
The woman broke free, but he chased her down and covered her mouth as he shoved her, kicking and panicking, into the car.
While driving, Davis pulled a multi-tool from his pocket with the knife blade extended and told her: “Co-operate, it doesn’t have to be this bad”.
He told his ex-girlfriend he was wearing gloves because he didn’t want to “leave fingerprints” and forced her to delete all the messages he sent her on various platforms, as well as the screenshots.
The woman was crying and shaking throughout the ordeal of more than 40 minutes.
“It’s very serious domestic violence offending and it represents a very significant escalation,” the prosecutor said when advocating for Davis to be taken into police custody.
“It was an attempt to cover up previous crimes committed by the offender in circumstances where he clearly didn’t accept that the victim wanted the relationship to end.”
But his barrister David Carroll argued it was not a “typical” domestic violence situation because Davis had acted “reprehensibly” out of fear of losing his job.
Mr Carroll disagreed with the prosecutor’s conclusion his client would inevitably face prison time for the offences, pointing to his clean record and attempts to rehabilitate himself.
Judge Stephen Hanley said he was “concerned” about the offences but allowed bail to continue before sentencing later in 2025.
Davis and members of his family became aggressive as they left court, shoving and grabbing media while wielding umbrellas.
The superyacht worker was shepherded by his father and sister while his mother called the media pack “vermin”.
The court was told they will provide “powerful” statements about Davis when he returns to court for a sentencing hearing on August 29.
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AAP
