I'm slipping. Jeremy beat me to the first Wench Watch piece.
If your ex-girlfriend texts you that she wants to hook up in some secluded place to “buy drugs”, “get ripped” and “have fun just like old times”…Don’t go there! Bitches be crazy… south of the Equator too.
-Jeremy Bentham
Adelaide man set alight in ‘choreographed ambush’ orchestrated by former girlfriend, jury told
September 7, 2016 9:31am
Ben Corey Woodhardt and Kerry Leanne Ross. Picture: Greg Higgs
AN ADELAIDE couple lured the woman’s former boyfriend to a secluded northern suburbs carpark where he was doused in petrol and set alight in a “choreographed ambush”, a court has heard.
Kerry Leanne Ross, 29, encouraged the late night rendezvous in 2013 with her alleged victim under a “ruse” she was looking to buy drugs, “get ripped” and “have fun just like old times”, the District Court heard.
When the man, and a friend, drove into the Elizabeth North spot in the early hours of November 9 they were met by Ross, her boyfriend Ben Corey Woodhardt and another woman “Sarah”, a jury heard.
Two “hooded” men, one known only as “Greeny”, suddenly squirted flammable liquid before throwing a “ball of fire” into the car, causing serious burns to their alleged targets, prosecutors said.
Another attack had earlier failed after the victim “stood” Ross up, the jury heard.
The court heard Woodhardt, also 29, had become jealous about Ross’ reconnection with her former boyfriend and sent angry emails days earlier.
The accused couple, of Evanston Gardens, deny one aggravated count each of cause serious harm with intention to cause serious harm and cause harm with intention to cause harm.
The other attackers have not been identified.
Opening their trial on Tuesday, prosecutor Matthew Boisseau said the victim and Ross’ 12-month relationship had broken down the previous year.
They reconnected through Facebook in October 2013, provoking a row between the couple.
Woodhardt emailed his partner’s former boyfriend shortly before the attack warning him to “stay the f*** away from Kerry” and also asking why his “Facebook profile picture” included Ross.
The day before the attack Ross orchestrated the “carefully choreographed” drug deal through scores of text messages. Woodhardt, meanwhile, asked “Greeny” if he was still available and received a text message stating: “Of course bro, good night to hurt some f***** really hard”.
After driving from Torrensville, Mr Boisseau said the pair were “ambushed” in their vehicle at 2.30am on Womma Rd under the “ruse” Ross wanted to see her ex and buy drugs.
“The prosecution case is these messages were a lure, they were a trick,” he said.
“Ms Ross and Mr Woodhardt, and these other people, were all acting together and as a team with a plan to get (the former boyfriend). This was a carefully planned and choreographed ambush.”
After extinguishing the fire by rolling on the ground, the victims drove off and were treated by paramedics who they randomly met on a nearby street.
Cans of petrol and kerosene and a burnt black XXL Everlast hooded jacket were recovered from the accused pair’s house. A DNA sample did not match either defendant.
The trial, before Judge Rauf Soulio and a jury, continues.
Originally published as Man set alight by ex-girlfriend
