Ethan Davis avoids further jail for calling ex more than 200 times in one night, abducting her after break-up

A man who called his ex more than 200 times in one night, transferred her 1c with the message “answer your phone”, and then abducted her has avoided further jail time. Superyacht worker Ethan Davis called his ex-girlfriend more than 200 times after she declined to spend “one last night” with him for his birthday after she broke up with him, even transferring her a single cent with the message “answer your phone”. He also threatened to break into her home to get to her, texting her “You do not understand this is not going to stop”, “If I have to break into your house to get to you I will”, and “Just f--king answer”. The next night he wore latex gloves and crouched next to her car, waiting for her to finish work before forcing her into a car and driving her half an hour to a lookout in Manly. There, he deleted all messages between the pair and screenshots she had taken in a bid to delete “incriminating” evidence of his harassment against her. Davis pleaded guilty to a string of charges including stalking and detaining a person. He spent the better part of two years on bail essentially on “house arrest” following the abduction, and will now avoid any further time behind bars after Judge Miiko Kumar on Tuesday found it was appropriate for him to serve a three-year sentence in the community under an Intensive Correction Order (ICO). A court was earlier told he spent 10 weeks in jail following his arrest in September 2023 before he was granted bail. Ms Kumar accepted the victim had suffered “significant emotional and psychological distress” as a result of Davis’ actions and that his threats would have been “extremely terrifying” for her. “The victim has not had a night of peaceful sleep and cannot walk to her car at night without being in constant fear and always being on guard,” Ms Kumar said during sentencing on Tuesday. However she also found Davis was remorseful and there was a low risk of him reoffending. She also accepted submissions that Davis had not committed protracted domestic violence, but that the offences were “impulsive acts which were serious offences … but they were committed by an immature 22-year-old”. She noted Davis told a psychologist he did not justify his behaviour, telling them: “I was raised to treat women with respect, it’s shameful”. He was ordered to participate in an educational program about respecting women, the prevention of DV, and not engaging in coercive control as per the conditions of his ICO, which will expire on September 1, 2028. The court was also told of Davis’ “unique” motivation for kidnapping the woman, with Ms Kumar agreeing with submissions he feared losing his job if she were to report his harassment to their employer. ‘I don’t want to leave fingerprints’ Chilling details of Davis’ harassment and the abduction were revealed in court documents, detailing how the woman had screamed for help at a passing car as Davis grabbed her: the car stopped briefly before driving off. He then put his hand over her mouth and pushed her into a bush, laying on top of her before forcing her into the car where he extended a blade from a Leatherman multi tool at her. “Co-operate, it doesn’t have to be this bad,” Davis told her. “What are you going to do to me, why have you got gloves on?” she asked. “I don’t want to leave fingerprints. You have to get rid of the messages,” Davis replied. She cried and shook during the entire 35 minute journey to the North Head lookout in Manly before Davis deleted the messages and screenshots from her phone. He dropped her back off at the Marina before following her home. “The victim could see the offender in her rear-view mirror following her home the entire journey,” the documents stated. She reported the matter to police the next morning and Davis was arrested hours later, police finding black latex gloves, a Leatherman tool, dark clothes and a laptop in his car. Davis pleaded guilty to two counts of stalk/intimidate intend fear physical etc harm, and one count each of use carriage service to menace/harass/offend, possess prohibited drug, and take/detain person with intent to obtain advantage. ‘Well scream then’: Details of break-up revealed The pair met through work on the Oceana superyacht, striking up a casual relationship in March 2022 before making things official in November that year. They broke up the following month before getting back together in March 2023, however the woman broke up with him in August. She agreed to meet with him at the Bondi restaurant Icebergs on August 30 to discuss their break-up, at which point Davis demanded to know who else she had been dating before snatching her phone, prompting her to threaten to scream if he didn’t give it back. “Well scream then,” Davis said. She followed him to his car to try and get her phone back, with Davis returning it after she began to cry. “You need to calm down,” he told her while driving her around neighbouring suburbs, dropping her home and demanding she return jewellery he had bought her. She later promised not to tell anyone about the incident, however he bombarded her with calls and messages days later on September 5 after she asked him to leave her be. Davis then abducted her the day after. Davis ‘sorry’ for ‘unforgivable’ behaviour Davis last week apologised to his victim in court, the woman listening in through an audiovisual link as he took “full accountability” for her post-traumatic stress disorder. “I understand the impact this has had on your life and I really am truly sorry,” Davis said. “I feel terrible about it, and if I could take it back, I would.”