A couple were bound and gagged during a terrifying six-hour kidnap ordeal staged by their former son-in-law during a ‘wildly inappropriate’ kidnap plot to reunite his family.
Klodjan Xhepa, 28, burst into a house with a masked gang who brandished pistols and restrained Lukasz Saczkowski and Miroslaw Chojnacka before driving them to a remote rural spot.
He then ordered Ms Chojnacka to call her daughter, Roksana, and spent three hours begging his estranged wife to come home with their children.
Xhepa later admitted two kidnap charges and has now been jailed for 46 months.
Sentencing him at Ipswich Crown Court, Judge David Pugh said he had subjected his victims to a ‘terrifying’ ordeal.
Five other charges were allowed to lie on file, including controlling or coercive behaviour towards Roksana and threats to kill four individuals, including Xhepa’s former parents-in-law.
The coercive behaviour allegedly included repeated assaults against Roksana, controlling her money and spending, not allowing her to leave the house, regularly threatening violence, verbal abuse and controlling contact with friends.
Prosecutor Juliet Donovan told the court that a gang of masked men burst into the bedroom of Mr Saczkowski’s home in Sudbury, Suffolk, at around 8am on March 27 last year as he slept in bed.
Klodjan Xhepa, 28, was part of a masked gang who burst into the home of his former parents-in-law
He was restrained with cable ties and a sock was stuffed into his mouth and held there with tape.
Although he managed to spit it out when his wife arrived home, she too was caught and tied up before being put on the bed beside him.
Xhepa then demanded to know where Roksana and their children were before eventually ordering the terrified couple into a car.
They were driven to a remote spot near Great Waldingfield where Mrs Chojnacka was forced to ring her daughter.
A desperate three-hour conversation followed, during which the defendant pleaded with Roksana to come home, before the ordeal came to an end.
During the hearing on Thursday, Judge Pugh revealed Roksana and the children had fled the country altogether due to Xhepa’s controlling behaviour and gone to Poland.
Rory Keen, defending, said his client – whose address was given in court as St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex – had not used violence against his victims and never made a threat to shoot them.
Xhepa’s actions were due to desperation and a ‘wildly inappropriate and misconceived plan’ to reunite his family.
Xhepa was jailed for 46 months at Ipswich Crown Court after admitting two kidnap charges
The defendant was given two concurrent jail terms of three years and ten months for the kidnap offences.
He was also banned from contacting his wife and children for five years.
