A man who kidnapped a child while attempting to take another will now spend close to 10 years in jail.  

Jonathan Richard Anthony was wearing a balaclava when he took an eight-year-old from his bed in the early hours of March 31, 2023.

The boy had been sleeping next to his brother, 12, who Anthony also unsuccessfully attempted to take from their Moora home in Western Australia.

Anthony lost grip of the older boy while leading him out of the house but still managed to walk off with his younger brother.

Anthony took the boy to his own home where he threatened to kill the child if he did not stay in the house where he was drinking beer.

He held the child against his will for three hours, a court has heard. 

Perth’s District Court was told that Anthony had schizophrenia at the time and was under the impression that he was saving children from aliens. 

Judge Seamus Rafferty sentenced Anthony to eight years in jail, which was backdated to 2023 this week. 

Hours before kidnapping the child Anthony sniffed two 600-millilitre cans of butane, court documents showed, as seen by the ABC.

He described the effects of butane as being similar to ‘a bad batch of psychedelics’.

This made him think ‘the TV was talking to me and stuff’, the court heard.

These delusions also convinced Anthony there were ‘aliens everywhere’ which required him to ‘save the kids’.

The entire kidnapping was captured on CCTV in Anthony’s home and footage showed him grabbing at the child every time they tried getting up to leave.

Friends and family of the boy eventually heard his cries for help however, and were able to alert emergency services who rescued him. 

The entire ordeal had ‘absolutely terrified’ the boy, Judge Rafferty said, noting that Anthony’s offending was extremely serious. 

Children should always feel safe in their own beds and Anthony violated that trust ‘in the most egregious way’, he added.

Anthony was suffering from severe psychosis at the time, which had been deteriorating ever since he stopped taking medication for schizophrenia in 2022. 

Previously, Anthony had been sentenced for arson due to his ‘heavy drug use’ in 2020.

He first started using cannabis at the age of 10 and methylamphetamine from the age of 15, Judge Rafferty said.

Anthony’s defence lawyer, Frances Veltman, said he had been hearing voices for ’10 to 15 years’.

Judge Rafferty conceded that Anthony was remorseful and ‘horrified’ over what had happened and he pleaded guilty to multiple charges.

Anthony will be eligible for parole after serving six years.