Woman chained to bed, only allowed to leave to eat, police allege
Broadie McGugan escaped from her alleged attacker Zane Woodward on Tuesday while she was at an ATM machine, hiding in a nearby chemist before making it to a nearby police station.
Woodward was charged 24 hours later at his home and refused bail to appear in court later this month.
Police will allege Ms McGugan was involved in a relationship with 34-year-old Woodward since September 2024.
Sometime in June or July this year Woodward started chaining her to the bed by her right ankle at night, to prevent her from 'sneaking out' to have sex with other men, police allege.
The chain consisted of a 'heavy set, metal chain link which was fashioned into a cuff and padlocked to her right ankle', according to police.
'This cuff was then padlocked to a chain that was secured to the bed frame,'
Woodward is accused of taking Ms McGugan's mobile phone, wallet and keys, isolating her from her family, friends and work.
Police will allege Woodward's behaviour continued to escalate and over the last week he started chaining the victim up during the day.
Woodward had to unlock the chain to allow her to use the toilet or to eat food, according to police documents.
He would occasionally deny her from using the toilet and would keep her chained up while he left the house, they said.
About 2pm on Tuesday the alleged victim managed to escape from Woodward when he took her to the ATM in Central Ave, Oak Flats to check a bank balance.
She fled and hid in a pharmacy and managed to flag down a customer to help her while Woodward allegedly drove laps of Central Ave looking for her.
After reporting the matter to police the alleged victim was taken to Shellharbour Hospital where it was discovered she had numerous broken ribs, bruising and fractured eye socket which medical experts said were a couple of weeks old.
The next day Woodward was arrested at his address and taken to Lake Illawarra Police Station where he was charged with kidnap with intent to commit a serious indictable offence, two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm – DV, take and detail a person with intent to obtain advantage, common assault and intimidation.
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