Four-year sentence follows gunpoint hostage ordeal

A 31-year-old Brisbane man has been sentenced to four years in prison—suspended after spending 493 days in custody—for holding a woman hostage at gunpoint during the chaos of a four-day drug bender.

Steven Anthony Salafia directed the terrified woman to drive her own car at gunpoint and kept her imprisoned for four to five hours outside his home while threatening her life, the Queensland court heard. The ordeal unfolded after years of unwanted romantic pursuit that the woman had consistently rejected.

Over the course of a one-year friendship, Salafia had made his intentions abundantly clear despite the woman's firm refusals and her decision to block his contact on social media. When his phone calls and text messages went unanswered, he took a different approach, appearing at her home one evening in January 2021.

On that occasion, he arrived armed with a firearm, intoxicated and erratic in his behaviour. The woman attempted to convince him to leave, but in what Judge Katherine McGinness later described as bewildering, she allowed him into her vehicle.

Once inside the car, his finger poised on the trigger, Salafia ordered her to drive him north to Chermside, a suburb in Brisbane's north. For the next four to five hours, the woman remained trapped in the parked vehicle outside his house.

During her captivity, threats multiplied and emotional manipulation escalated. Salafia told her he would shoot her, declared that he loved her, apologised for his actions, and held the gun to his own throat while demanding she pull the trigger and end his life. He also warned that he would engage in a shootout with police if they arrived.

Each time the woman pleaded to return home to her children—a refrain she repeated throughout the ordeal—Salafia's response was to brandish the gun and become increasingly agitated. She finally managed to escape when he went inside his house, driving away immediately.

Police arrested him at his residence with a sawn-off shotgun. In custody, Salafia revealed that he had been caught in a four-day methamphetamine bender, unable to sleep for the entire period.

Brisbane District Court Judge Katherine McGinness acknowledged the extreme risk created by Salafia's state of intoxication combined with possession of a loaded firearm. "You essentially kept the complainant at your mercy over a number of hours," she said from the bench.

The judge's sentence reflected her consideration of multiple factors: Salafia's guilty pleas, which spared the victim the trauma of courtroom testimony; his deeply traumatic upbringing; and his extensive prior criminal history. His guilty pleas, she said, demonstrated acceptance of responsibility for his actions.

The sentence handed down reflects time already served. With 493 days spent in custody since his arrest, Salafia's four-year head sentence is now suspended, meaning his continued freedom depends on meeting court-imposed conditions.