January 2, 2026 — 1:15pm
Save
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Remove items from your saved list to add more.
Save this article for later
Add articles to your saved list and come back to them anytime.
Got it
A Perth court has heard for the first time the horrifying details of how a WA man took two boys from their beds while they were sleeping in a rural WA town in 2023, leading a judge to compare the offence to that of the abduction of four-year-old Cleo Smith.
Jonathon Richard Anthony, 36, was sentenced in Perth District Court on Friday over the incident, in which he donned a wig and a mask before entering the home of a neighbour in the early hours of the morning to lift eight-year-old James Uzice out of his bed.
The shocking moment a child was abducted from his house in Moora was captured on CCTV.9 News Perth
Anthony took the child back to his Moora home and told him to stay there or he would kill him, before going back for his 12-year-old brother, Fabiano.
The court heard how Fabiano resisted as Anthony half-carried and half-walked him out of the house in the early hours of March 31, eventually escaping and raising the alarm.
CCTV cameras at the boys’ home captured the incident as it unfolded.
The police and a small community came together to search for James, who was located three hours later in Anthony’s house after they heard him screaming, “help me, help me, I’m in here”.
James and Fabiano were kidnapped from their Moora home.9 News Perth
In that time Anthony had plied him with beer and when the boy begged to go to the bathroom he was told no and that he could “just p— himself”.
The entire interaction was captured by Anthony’s own CCTV cameras, later watched by sentencing judge Seamus Rafferty.
“This was every parent’s worst nightmare,” he said.
“I can see from that boy’s face just how terrified he is.
Jonathan Richard Anthony can be seen entering the property.Nine News Perth
“It would have been an unbelievably terrifying ordeal for the child … the impact would be significant on that feeling of safety and feeling vulnerable and the parents who would have felt they did not properly protect their children.”
State prosecutors told the court it was like something “straight from the movies or a TV show” as the case was compared to that of the abduction of Cleo Smith, who was taken from a campsite near Carnarvon in November 2021.
Terrence Kelly was sentenced to over 13 years in jail for the four-year-old’s abduction, after she was found alive by police 18 days following her disappearance.
James and Fabiano’s father, Steven Uzice, previously told 9 News Perth how Fabiano came into the house and said, “my brother is missing, someone tried to drag me out”.
James was detained for three hours.9 News Perth
After James was found, the distraught dad told him, “now you’re safe, daddy’s here. Nobody can hurt you,” he told 9 News Perth at the time.
“It’s like a shock, you know … I didn’t expect something like that to happen in a little community.”
On Friday, Rafferty told the court it would be “an affront to justice” not to sentence Anthony to a term of imprisonment over the incident, despite hearing that he was suffering from schizophrenia and the effects of cannabis and butane abuse, leading to a psychosis.
Related Article
Anthony, who later pleaded guilty to seven charges in relation to the incident, told police that he was in the middle of a paranoid delusion and believed aliens were everywhere and that he needed to save the children.
He was then charged with two counts of person who forcibly/fraudulently detains a child, one count of deprivation of liberty, two counts of aggravated burglary, one count of disguising to commit a crime, and one count of indecently recording a child.
He was sentenced to a total of eight years in prison, backdated to March 2023 when he was arrested, and will be eligible for parole in March 2029.
A lifetime restraining order was also granted to protect both of the boys from Anthony.
Save
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Remove items from your saved list to add more.
Most Viewed in NationalFrom our partners