ADAM Robinson declined to give his reaction after the two men and woman who subjected him to his ordeal were sentenced.
However, his father Mervyn Robinson said he was "disappointed" in the jail terms - especially given the fact "they will be out soon."
The Co Antrim man said he will be forever thankful to the man who, along with Maisie the dog, who found and rescued his son from the taped-up wheelie bin.
He said it had been a long road to the final day in court.
"It has taken us such a long time to actually get here. It's taken a long long time ... coming to all these hearings and we finally got here."
He said given the 50 per cent remission, the trio will be released "very shortly" and "will most likely be back in Ballymena very soon" and that is what scares his son the most.
"Adam wants to go down the town in Ballymena and walk about freely, and who knows who he is going to bump in to some day when he walks around a corner.
"It's tough for him. Ballymena is not that big a town and he realises the possibility of that happening and it probably plays on his mind too, which he doesn't need because he has been through so much.
"It's been very very traumatic for him, so hopefully he can put this behind him."
Mr Robinson said that Adam would be glad to see a finality to the case, but said he would be disappointed with the sentencing.
"I think maybe trying to put this behind us and trying to move on is the best thing we could hope for."
He expressed heartfelt gratitute to the "Good Samaritan" dog walker who rescued Adam.
"I can't thank him enough ... words are so little. We have never met Maisie the dog but believe you me, I have thought about her quite a bit."
"He could have walked on ... but he stopped and went to investigated and thank goodness, thank God he did that because I don't know where we would have been today.
"We might not have had a son today because I don't think Adam had an awful long time to survive in the bin. When we saw him just after he came out of it, he was an awful orangey/blue colour, covered in sweat and he really was in a bad way."
