“IT'S a miracle I survived.” With those words the brave Glenwood mum and jogger told Berea Mail of her harrowing ordeal at the hands of armed men who forcibly threatened, robbed and kidnapped her while she was out jogging in the early hours of Monday morning.
The woman, who is known to Berea Mail but agreed to speak on condition of anonymity, said despite the terrifying attack on her, her faith in humanity had been restored . “I am so grateful that someone helped us, he is our miracle man and my hero for life. After such a bad incident, it keeps your faith that there are good people around despite all the bad guys out there,” she said.
The 37-year-old mother of two said she had left home at about 4.30am and set off on her run down Alan Paton (Macdonald) Road into Lena Ahrens (Manning) Road and crossed over Helen Joseph (Davenport) Road. “I don't run near Bulwer Park because I don't feel it's safe,” she said.
She said she chose to go jogging early in the mornings as she had to leave home early to get her children to school and leave for work which is situated far from her home. “I leave early to avoid getting stuck in traffic.I'm always vigilant and noticed a minibus taxi parked further on the road. Something didn't feel right about it and I crossed to the other side of the road so that I was facing oncoming traffic,” she said.
“It was then that the silver VW Polo came towards me. Two men got out the car and I immediately felt uneasy but continued running. They approached me and pointed a gun at me and said if I didn't stop they would shoot me, so I stopped. They told me to get into the car or they would kill me. The man with the gun held it against my back,” she said.
The woman was forcibly pushed into the back seat at gunpoint and told that if she didn't cooperate with the men she would be killed. Recalling her terror she said one man appeared to be in his late twenties and the other in his late thirties. One of the men reeked of alcohol. “They asked for my house keys and wanted to know where I lived. I was so scared I had to take a few seconds to gather myself and calm myself down because the men were nervous and erratic. I knew if I made any false move, they would shoot me so I cooperated.”
“They took me to my home and walked me up the driveway with a gun in my back. I told them not to wake up my kids or my husband. I had to open the door and and turn the lights on then went upstairs to my bedroom. My husband sat up shocked and I had to tell him there were people in the house and he had to stay calm. Thankfully, he did,” she said.
The men forced the couple lie down facing the ground and demanded jewellery and wanted to know where the safe was. “We had been robbed last year while away and didn't replace any jewellery, so they were quite upset when I said we didn't have any. They they asked where the cars were. I remember having to get up and show them my empty jewellery box. They were very skittish and kept threatening to kill us. They said if we pressed any panic button, they would shoot us,” she said.
One of the men went rummaging downstairs while the other remained with the couple. It was then that the situation took a dire turn.
“The man who was with us, put a blanket over my husband and made me lean on the bed and said he was going to rape me, but as he tried, one of the other men came running up screaming: ''its Chubb, its Chubb!”
Panicked and furious, the men grabbed the woman and holding her at gunpoint told her to instruct the security guards that everything was fine and they should leave. “They didn't realise the extent of how many security people were outside, and neither did I. I had no idea anybody was aware of what had happened to me or what was happening in our home,” she said.
“The men were confused and swearing. They dragged me outside using me as a human shield and told the guards they would kill me. I saw armed Blue Security guards and vehicles had surrounded the place. I had to use our remote to open the gate so we could get out. Then they shoved me into the car and sped off with me,” she said.
Shaken and traumatised the jogger said she'd never been driven so fast in her life. “It was like a high speed chase in a movie only I didn't know if I'd die by gunshot or accident. They asked me why I had tried to be clever by setting off the alarm,” she said.
The men surprised her by asking her how to get to Cato Manor. “At that point I was wondering how anyone would know where I was. I could just smell the rubber burning from the tyres and saw we were in Cato Manor. The driver screamed at me to tell them to stop following us, but I couldn't hear any cars behind us, I kept looking away from them and made no eye contact and looked down the whole time, so I had no idea we were being followed. I could hear we were driving on the rims because I think Blue Security had shot the tyres. Suddenly they stopped the car near an embankment and jumped out. I grabbed the steering wheel and turned it to stop the car from going down the bank and it rolled to a stop,” she said.
Not knowing that her ordeal was over, the woman said she chose to stay in the car rather than get out and go for help in an area not familiar to her.
Soon after, police arrived to rescue her. “I owe my life to the guy who witnessed the incident because without him it would have been a different outcome, he is my guardian angel! She also gave thanks for another miracle in that her children had slept through the whole ordeal. She said the children's grandfather had arrived to fetch them in the morning and took them away for a “holiday.”
“I'm also grateful that my husband stayed calm throughout the ordeal. We will both be going for trauma counselling. With so much negativity about Umbilo police, I'm just grateful to hem and Blue Security who were both unbelievably quick to respond and turn the situation around,” she said.
Motorist alerted security
Blue Security operations manager, Brian Jackson said a motorist who had seen the woman being forced into the vehicle had followed the gang to Cato Road where they forced the woman out the car at gunpoint and into her home. He had alerted the security officer posted in the guard hut down the road and Blue Security had immediately responded to the scene.
“The vigilance of the motorist who managed to follow the suspects to the resident’s home paid off and shows that citizens are looking after one another and prepared to work together with the police and security companies to fight crime,” he said.
Criminals are cunning
Meanwhile, community safety activist, Heather Rorick of the Bulwer Community Safety Forum, said the incident showed that criminals were thinking “way ahead.” “This shows the dimension that criminals are thinking in, cunning and well planned modus operandi. We have to rethink our way of life, security wise. Joggers are easy targets and the criminals do crime for a living so they are constantly coming up with new modes of targeting residents.
“Until government takes crime seriously and does something drastic about it, criminal masterminds will outsmart police and security, I think if there aren't enough police we need to bring in the army,” she said.
Photo: Blue Security
