A Perth tradie will spend more months behind bars as he awaits his fate over the shocking kidnapping of a nine-year-old girl on her way to school.
Ryan Ashley Darken previously pleaded guilty to luring the girl to his apartment in Warnbro, on the outskirts of Perth, about 8.25am on July 21, 2023.
A short time later he left her at an IGA supermarket in Port Kennedy, with her hands bound with cable ties.
A parent who witnessed the incident alerted the girl’s school and word spread after the girl’s mother took to social media to plead for help.
The girl was later found in distress at a shopping center several miles away.
Police officers swarmed the area and Darken was arrested and charged.
Darken was charged with holding another person with intent to harm, deprivation of liberty, assault and uttering threats.
Darken left the girl a short time later at an IGA supermarket in Port Kennedy, with her hands tied with zip ties
Darken was charged with holding another person with intent to harm, deprivation of liberty, assault and uttering threats.
He pleaded guilty to these charges at Rockingham Magistrates Court on November 3, 2023.
He was not required to appear in Perth District Court on Friday, but his lawyer Christian Porter told court clerk Jacquie Kubacz that Darken needed multiple appointments with a forensic psychiatrist to prepare a report for his sentencing hearing.
The court heard the first available appointment would not be made until July.
The West reported in March that Darken had suffered a head injury in a car accident as a child and was considered quite functionally limited.
The case is due back in court on August 30 for a hearing before sentencing in October.