A man who kidnapped and stabbed his mother-in-law while high on drugs in Adelaide has been given an eight-year prison sentence.
Ryan Louis O'Grady, 40, faced sentencing in the South Australian District Court on Wednesday for the kidnapping and stabbing of his wife's 70-year-old mother in May 2020.
He also led police on a dangerous high-speed pursuit that ended outside the SA Police headquarters on Angas Street in Adelaide's CBD.
He pleaded guilty to aggravated kidnapping and aggravated causing harm with intent, as well as multiple other serious offences.
The court previously heard the inheritance of hundreds of thousands of dollars from O'Grady's late father had led him to move from Queensland to Adelaide and to start abusing drugs.
O'Grady and his wife lost custody of their daughter in April 2020, after police found them with drug paraphernalia inside a motel room.
Judge Michael Durrant told the court O'Grady believed his mother-in-law was responsible for his daughter being removed.
"You thought your mother-in-law was in some way responsible for the removal of your daughter and that she had sold her into sexual slavery and that she was involved in black magic," Judge Durrant said.
"Your personal circumstances make it clear that your abuse of significant quantities of mixed drugs is the primary criminogenic factor in your offending.
"At the time of this offending, as a consequence of abuse of illicit drugs, you were floridly psychotic."
Violence against wife and her mother
The court previously heard O'Grady and his wife were paying a chauffeur hundreds of dollars to drive them around Adelaide before they directed him to drive them to his mother-in-law's house at Greenacres.
"You said to [the driver] that you wanted to kill her and that she had taken your kids away," Judge Durrant said.
The judge told the court O'Grady also choked his wife in the car on the way, and when the driver stopped the vehicle he told him: "Keep moving. This will be you next. I will kill you by gun or knife."
On arrival at his mother-in-law's house, the driver fled the car and called police.
The court heard O'Grady then yelled at his mother-in-law about the location of his daughter, before he stomped on her foot and pushed her into the front passenger seat.
"As your wife was driving, you asked [your mother-in-law] about the whereabouts of your daughter. When she told you she did not know, you stabbed her to the abdomen with a knife," Judge Durrant said.
Apology but long-term effects
The court heard both victims now suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of O'Grady's actions.
While Judge Durrant accepted O'Grady was remorseful for his actions and had sent the victims several letters of apology, he told him his behaviour "must be publicly denounced and any harm done to the community and to the victims of your behaviour must be publicly recognised".
"While your drug-fuelled psychosis provides no defence and you stand to be sentenced for your offending in the ordinary way, you did think that in some way your offending was justified against those you considered responsible for the removal of your daughter," the judge said.
He imposed a single final sentence of eight years' imprisonment, with a non-parole period of four years and 11 months.
The sentence was backdated to commence on the day of O'Grady's arrest two-and-a-half years ago.
