A ROUTINE school pick-up turned to horror last week when a Mandurah woman was carjacked outside her childrens’ school.
Amy MacDonald was parked near Halls Head Primary School just before 3pm on Friday when a woman approached her asking for a lighter.
While Ms MacDonald was distracted the woman snatched the keys from the ignition.
Ms MacDonald managed to grab them off the woman before two men in a Mitsubishi Magna rounded a nearby corner and stopped at her vehicle.
“It was terrifying,” Ms MacDonald said.
“At first I thought the woman was mentally ill.
“She was saying ‘give me my car back’ and I was trying to calm her down.
“Then the men showed up.
“I thought [one of them] was going to kill me.”
- Amy MacDonald.
“I thought [one of them] was going to kill me.”
Realising the seriousness of the situation facing her, Ms MacDonald handed the keys to her 14-year-old daughter and told her to run to the school for help.
But struck with terror, the teenager froze in fright before throwing the keys to the ground.
Ms MacDonald was “pushed around a bit” by the men who finally got hold of the keys which they gave to the woman who sped off in the Holden Captiva SUV.
The men also fled the scene before police arrived.
On Saturday night Ms MacDonald’s vehicle was found burnt-out in bushland in North Yunderup.
A total write-off, the family is now using a loan car while waiting on insurance to come through.
“It was just horrific,” Ms MacDonald said.
“I didn’t freak out at the time, but now I am suffering anxiety.
“I’m not sleeping.
“It’s been traumatising.”
Ms MacDonald said she was surprised nobody came to her aid during the incident, but she was relieved her youngest daughter who is three years old was not in the car at the time.
“Normally she would have been in the backseat,” she said.
“It was just by chance she wasn’t.”
Detective Ripley Douglas from Mandurah police said inquiries were continuing into the incident.
He confirmed the vehicle had been gutted and said detectives were working with Ms MacDonald in an attempt to identify the offenders.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
