A twisted bank worker who sadistically tortured a 21-year-old for 23 days, lit her on fire and left her for dead has been jailed for life.
Nicholas John Crilley, 34, was sentenced by Queensland District Court Judge Anthony Rafter SC on Friday morning, three years after his depraved actions.
The former Commonwealth Bank employee and amateur footballer left his victim, 21, permanently disfigured over the course of June and July 2017.
Crown Prosecutor Sandra Cupina told his sentencing hearing last week that Crilley had subjected the 21-year-old victim to ‘unimaginable horror’.
To his friends, Nicholas John Crilley, 34, was an amateur football player and bank worker – but court documents unearthed by Daily Mail Australia reveal he had a history of violence against women and was in the sights of Queensland Police over drug-related activities
Crilley (right), above at a music festival with friends, went by the ‘gangster’ nickname ‘NJ Crillz’ on social media. His lawyer has claimed in court he was delusional and using ice when he tortured his victim
The victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was found by paramedics on the ‘brink of death’ in July 2017.
Police who arrived on the scene thought she had been the victim of an explosion. She suffered burns to 46 per cent of her body.
The court has heard Crilley boasted to a friend: ‘I’ve pummeled her so hard … she can’t talk anymore.’
He told the victim he planned to ‘disfigure her face’ and break her jaw but he instead left her clinging to life.
Crown Prosecutor Sandra Cupina told the court Crilley subjected the woman to ‘severe physical, psychological and sadistic violence’.
‘As (the woman) became more injured, (Crilley) increased the methods he was using to harm her.
‘First the boiling water, then the acetone, then setting her on fire.
‘The horror (she) would have been experiencing is almost unimaginable,’ she said.
Some former friends were stunned by Crilley’s crimes after he pleaded guilty to 54 charges earlier this year. One said in a social media post this week: ‘What did I just read about NJ Crillz?
The victim, who was 21 at the time, was found barely alive in Nicholas John Crilley’s house in Bulimba (pictured) on July 2, 2017. She was so badly injured police who found her thought she had been involved in an explosion
Over the course of 23 days, Nicholas John Crilley forced the woman to eat her own vomit and faeces, and made her sleep on the floor (above)
Some of the ordeal occurred Spring Hill’s Tower Mill Metro Hotel where the court heard Crilley ‘hid’ the victim for five days
Some of her injuries were badly infected and became infested with maggots.
Defence lawyer Malcolm Harrison told the court Crilley was in a methylamphetamine-induced delusional state during the prolonged assault.
He said Crilley believed the woman had been part of a drive-by shooting that targeted him, but that was not based on reality.
‘This is a dreadful and extremely serious example of violence against a woman,’ he said.
Even Crilley’s lawyer admitted: ‘The offences were sadistic in nature.’
In a statement to the court, Crilley’s victim said: ‘I have been disfigured both mentally and physically.
‘It is something I would not wish on my worst enemies.’
She said people now look at her as a ‘monster’ because of her ‘horrific, very visible and predominantly irreversible’ injuries.
‘Every time I leave my home I am stared at,’ she said.
‘I do not see myself walking down an aisle and fulfilling a woman’s dream of being married in a white gown to a man she loves.’
The victim risks going blind due to her injuries and suffers post-traumatic stress order.