Elderly Man Tortured with ‘Horrifying Array of Weaponry’ After Grindr Catfishing

A taser, an electric drill, a gas lighter, secateurs, a syringe containing “AIDS" and a knife—all of these were used on an elderly man in Australia last year after he was catfished on Grindr and lured into the home of a drug-fuelled assailant.

An Adelaide court this week heard the gruelling details of how 21-year-old Charlie Michael Edward Caire tortured his victim—who was naked, handcuffed and blindfolded at the time—"with a horrifying array of weaponry".

Caire admitted to setting up a fake Grindr dating profile and meeting the elderly man behind a supermarket in Murray Bridge, in rural South Australia, in February last year. He coaxed his victim back to his brother’s house at about 2:45AM, whereupon he blindfolded, bound and tortured him: probing him with the taser and electric drill, holding the flame of the lighter to his head, placing his fingers between the blades of the secateurs, slicing his arm with the knife, and injecting the syringe into the man’s right arm while telling him it contained the AIDS virus.

All of this while his brother Brett, 36 at the time, demanded passcodes for the man’s phone so that they could access his bank accounts.

“The defendant [Charlie Caire] sought to make monetary gain by detaining and torturing an elderly man in quite a horrid fashion and this occurred over a sustained period of time," Prosecutor Ben Sturm told the Adelaide District Court this week. "He [the victim] was told his body would be dumped where it would never be found. The victim himself experienced the most sustained and intense period of physical pain he has ever endured, without doubt."

The victim eventually escaped, having suffered only superficial injuries, after telling his captors that his bank cards were at home and convincing them to drive him there. Local police were called to the incident and arrested the two brothers at about 8:00AM the following morning.

Charlie Caire’s lawyer Joel Horskins told the court that Caire was in a drug frenzy at the time, had spent at least $10,000 on methamphetamines in the three months leading up to the incident, and was convinced the victim had abused his best friend's brother.

"He didn't necessarily plan to assault him in the manner he did, but he did have in mind to perhaps teach him a lesson if it was the person he believed had assaulted his friend's brother,” Horskins told the court. "The use of the various tools and weapons—that wasn't planned, he chose those things spontaneously… it wasn't necessarily a well thought out exercise."

Caire pleaded guilty to numerous offences, including false imprisonment, aggravated blackmail and aggravated assault. He will be sentenced next month.

Follow Gavin on Twitter