A man who abducted, assaulted, and held a Port Douglas woman for 16 hours before driving her off a cliff on the Kuranda Range has been handed a 12-year jail sentence.

Daniel Rooney, 26, was sentenced in the Supreme Court in Cairns yesterday where he was classed as a serious violent offender. 

Late last year he pleaded guilty to 29 charges including stalking, assault, burglary, choking, deprivation of liberty and dangerous driving.

He was also facing one charge of attempted murder however it was withdrawn in light of his plea of guilty to the other charges. 

Other media have reported Justice James Henry described Rooney’s actions as "seriously disturbing" and have left his victim deeply scarred from the ordeal.

Rooney will serve a mandatory 80 per cent of his 12-year sentence with his earliest possible release date 2027.