Australian kidnapper nabbed by Chennai customs in Indian disguise gets extended jail India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

A Germany-born Australian convicted kidnapper, who had slipped through Australian customs with a fake Indian passport and a remarkable disguise, has received an extended jail term. Julian Matthias Buchwald, 23, who subjected his 17-year-old girlfriend to a six-day naked bush ordeal and tried to flee to India to escape justice, was nabbed by Chennai Airport officials who found “something amiss in his appearance”. Last month, Buchwald was jailed in absentia for seven years and nine months' confinement. The County Court in Melbourne , where he appeared on Tuesday, ordered him to serve an extra six months in jail for skipping bail, News.com.au reports. "He has simply made a decision to not be here for sentence. This isn't like failing to appear at Broady because you're late scoring dope. This is a genuine, dead-set calculated determination not to suffer the consequences for what he was convicted of,” Judge John Smallwood noted. Buchwald had been bailed until his pre-sentence hearing on September 19, but failed to appear. Just a day before his sentence, Caucasian Buchwald fled Australian after duping Sydney customs with dyed black hair and a fake tan before taking his seat on the 12.30 PM Singapore Airlines flight from Sydney to Chennai. The court heard that Buchwald, disguised as balaclava taped his girlfriend's eyes shut and hogtied her before driving to bushland. The girl sat in the back of the vehicle, bound and terrified, for six hours. She had no idea who her captor was. Buchwald then took her to another area where he used a knife to cut off her clothing before cutting off his own. Judge Smallwood said Buchwald's crimes were almost impossible to believe. In re-sentencing him, the judge said a clear message needed to be sent to others that skipping bail would not be tolerated.