TORTURING a man for eight hours in a “sadistic” attack was not enough reason for a Gold Coast judge to declare the four attackers to be serious violent offenders.

If the judge had made the ruling, the four would have had to serve at least 80 per cent of their jail sentences, but now they could walk free as early as next year.

Torture victim Jay Marsters has given the Gold Coast Bulletin permission to use this video

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Dean Knox, Zane Potts, Christopher Goulding and Jayden Peters all took part in the torture of 18-year-old Jay Marsters on February 7 last year in a Southport back yard.

media_camera TORTURING a man for eight hours in a “sadistic” attack was not enough reason for a Gold Coast judge to declare the four attackers to be serious violent offenders.

The group put a bag over his head, tied him to a bed frame, burnt his body with cigarettes, hit him with a hammer and ripped out a tooth using vice grips.

media_camera Zane Potts the alleged ringleader of a brutal torture attack at a suburban Southport home. Picture: Facebook.

Mr Marsters was spray-painted in crude words, forced to drink urine and repeatedly punched and kicked.

The prosecution said the case showed features consistent with a “love of cruelty” and argued the men should be declared serious violent offenders.

But Southport District Court Judge Clive Wall disagreed and sentenced the group to six years’ jail without declaring them to be serious violent offenders.

“The offence consists of one occasion only, albeit an extended one,” he said.

“The injuries suffered by the complainant are less serious than in other cases.”

Mr Wall said a claim that the men were told their victim had assaulted his girlfriend was no excuse — noting that the claim was denied by the victim.

“In any event, even if such an assault took place, it could in no shape or form justify what the four of you did to the victim,” he said.

“What you did in my view was sadistic, cruel, callous, worrying, disturbing, vicious and degrading. It was a terrifying attack ... which lasted from 11am until early evening.”

Judge Wall rejected a submission that Goulding and Peters should be given lesser sentences as they were not the primary offenders.

“All four of you should have known better,” he said.

Mr Wall read from a victim impact statement from Mr Marsters which said he now lived in constant pain as a result of the incident.

“I fear one day the people who assaulted me will come back and kill me,” the statement said.

“The trauma and sadness I feel are my constant companions and depression is now a part of me.”

Goulding, Knox and Potts have already served 16 months behind bars while Peters has been in custody for about nine months.

Knox will be eligible for parole in February next year, Potts and Goulding the next month and Peters in January, 2017.

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