A fugitive found hiding in a yacht hull believing a contract had been taken out on his life has been jailed for helping to steal $550,000 in drug money.
Mark Anthony Horne, 34, and four others attacked truckie Leith Carstairs as he was parked on a highway west of Sydney in the early hours of September 29, 2020.
The group smashed the windows of Mr Carstairs' vehicle, dragging him out onto the ground before punching and kicking him and shooting him in the thigh, calf and foot.
The assault was sparked by inside information the truck driver had a considerable amount of money concealed within the vehicle which he had picked up from Perth and taken to Sydney to buy drugs, court documents reveal.
The men drove Mr Carstairs to a second location in the Blue Mountains where they took $550,000 of the money, threatening him to remain silent before leaving the injured truck driver alone.
Horne was arrested on December 3, 2020 and was held in custody.
But after being granted bail by the NSW Supreme Court, he absconded in October 2022 leading to a three-month manhunt.
In January 2023, he was found concealed in a yacht hull moored in Darwin and bound for Indonesia before being extradited to NSW where he was again placed behind bars.
Judge Stephen Hanley accepted on Monday Horne he had fled not because he was trying to avoid the court case but because police had told him there was a contract out on his life.
The judge handed down a maximum sentence of six years and six months, backdated to May 1, 2022 and expiring on October 30, 2028.
Horne's three-year and six-month non-parole period will end on October 30, 2025.
As the 34-year-old watched the Parramatta District Court hearing from a small room at Silverwater prison, Judge Hanley said gang violence of this type was abhorrent and had to be denounced.
The judge acknowledged the "extremely frightening situation" Mr Carstairs had been placed in.
Judge Hanley took into account Horne's diagnosis of ADHD as well as PTSD from past trauma and substance abuse disorder because of heavy use of ice.
The 34-year-old had shown remorse for his actions, the judge found.
"I am shattered at what happened to the victim," he told a psychiatrist in a report filed with the court.
But while Horne did not initially know one of his co-offenders had brought a gun along, he remained and took part in the robbery even after shots were fired, Judge Hanley said.
The judge said the 34-year-old had guarded prospects of rehabilitation but said he had taken steps to deal with his drug addiction and to stay away from anti-social characters who had led him to the robbery in the first place.
