Orange District Court heard Joshua Shirvington, 27, formerly of Icely Road, visited the woman’s workplace on April 11 and asked to see her concerning a text message.

Unwilling to talk in the hallway, the woman agreed to discuss the matter in the car, however Shirvington reached across her and closed the passenger door.

Locking the doors, he then began to drive away. 

The court heard the woman asked him to take her back to work, to let her out and to stop the car, but he refused and asked her why she was crying.

He later stopped the car on Woodward Street near Moulder Street and agreed to return her to work.

MAP: Where the man stopped the car …

The woman reported the matter to police later in the afternoon and Shirvington was arrested that night at a service station on the Northern Distributor Road.

Solicitor Mason Manwaring said his client had sought psychological help within a week of the incident and had since moved to the Central Coast area where he worked six days a week.

Judge Robert Sutherland said Shirvington had no right to take the woman against her will.

But he also said Shirvington had an otherwise clean criminal history, had “taken great steps to understand what happened”.

He convicted him and handed down a two-year community corrections order.