A
Northern Irish woman kidnapped on her driveway and held in the boot of her own
car for nine hours was rescued by South African police who used her mobile
phone signal and bank details to track her down.
Dorothy
Carlyle's family said she told them she was repeatedly slapped and stabbed with
a screwdriver by her captors who argued over when they should kill her as she
was paraded around a township near the seaside city of Durban "like a
trophy".
The
59-year-old was ambushed as she got into her silver BMW in a quiet suburb on
Tuesday around 2.30pm by three men wielding knives who forced her into the
boot, according to police.
They
drove her to a cash machine where they withdrew the maximum daily amount of
R2,000 (£145) using her credit card before travelling on to the notorious
KwaMashu township north of the city.
There
they celebrated in a tavern while they waited for the following day to arrive
so they could withdraw more money, according to those involved in the hunt for
Mrs Carlyle.
The
estate agent, who is originally from Londonderry and moved to Durban 30 years
ago, described how she heard them boasting to bystanders about their captive.
Her
daughter Brooke said she and her sister Lauren had gone out shopping for a
present for their mother's 60th birthday on Saturday, and they had only
realised she had been taken when she failed to return home from work.
"My
sister and I had heard a scream earlier in the afternoon but we just thought it
was the kids next door," she said. "When we couldn't reach mum on her
mobile later in the day, we rang her office and her colleagues said she had
never come back after lunch."
The
pair called police and a private security company whose operatives said they
traced Mrs Carlyle's movements, using the last signal from her mobile phone
before the hijackers switched it off at 3.30pm, and information from banks
about where they had attempted to withdraw money.
They
were eventually able to place her in KwaMashu. A helicopter was sent to the
scene along with police officers who conducted door-to-door enquiries and
consulted informants who told them the men had been boasting about what they
had done in a nearby tavern, a source at the security firm told The Daily
Telegraph.
A
community crime website was also alerted, which disseminated details of Mrs
Carlyle's car to its members in the area via text message.
Meanwhile,
Mrs Carlyle's daughters gathered with friends at their house, while her other
daughter and son, who live in England, boarded flights to South Africa,
The
BMW was eventually found and, following a shoot-out, Mrs Carlyle was freed.
One
22-year-old man believed to be the driver was arrested at the scene, along with
two 15-year-old girls who had allegedly been co-opted to guard the car while
the hijackers drank in the tavern. Two more men, aged 17 and 22, were arrested
on Wednesday night.
Her
family were told that she had been recovered alive at around 11.30pm, and raced
to a hospital where she was taken for treatment.
Interviewed
about her ordeal afterwards, Mrs Carlyle said she believed she had been driven
around for at least six hours and repeatedly lost consciousness.
"She
said many people got in and out of the car and she was being shown off like a
trophy. They tied her up, they slapped her if she spoke and they stabbed her
with a screwdriver," her daughter Lauren Miller said.
The
private security source said it was likely that she would have been killed if
the search team had not found her in time.
"These
guys knew what they were doing which is why they switched off the phone,"
he said. "They had been showing her off and boasting about what they had
done. She had been with them for so long that I don't think they would have let
her go."
Police
spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane said all five suspects would appear before
Durban Magistrate's Court on Friday on charges of kidnapping and hijacking.
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