A teenage girl who was found lying unconscious and critically injured beside a road after a suspected attempted abduction in Lake Heights has told how she woke from a coma in hospital only to be told she was pregnant.
So badly injured was April-lee Gillen, 17, when she was found last Easter that she suffered short-term memory loss and had to be repeatedly told in hospital each day that she was expecting a child.
The following morning, a passing motorist found April-lee lying in the gutter, unconscious.
"I said 'Am I pregnant? Oh my goodness'. And then I would forget because I had that thing still where I'd forget each day," April-lee told A Current Affair.
"I'd say 'Oh my God, am I pregnant, am I pregnant?' And they'd tell me each day."
Medical staff and police are amazed at the remarkable recovery of the teenager, who was believed to have been about four weeks pregnant when the attempted abduction occurred, and who gave birth to her son, Jacobie, on Christmas Eve.
Much of what happened in Lake Heights, just south of Wollongong, on the night of April 20 last year still remains a mystery, but police have pieced together a timeline of the events leading up to her attempted abduction.
April-lee left her Lake Heights home, where she lived with her mother, about 7pm on the Saturday to visit her boyfriend Miles, who lived not far away near the Illawarra Yacht Club.
Later that night, April-lee began walking home alone along Northcliffe Drive. During her journey home, she updated her Facebook status to read: "Phones on 1 per cent walking from warrawong to berks [Berkeley] and some Asian guy just stopped me telling me to come home with him cause it's safe and I need help wtf sos".
At 2am the following morning, a passing motorist found April-lee lying in the gutter, unconscious. She had suffered a broken ankle, a collapsed lung and bleeding on her brain.
She was taken to Wollongong Hospital where she spent two weeks in an induced coma. A section of her skull was removed to ease the pressure on her brain.
Police initially suspected that April-lee had been injured in a hit-and-run crash, but CCTV then emerged of a black BMW sports utility vehicle driving in the area, performing a sudden u-turn and driving back along Northcliffe Drive.
Acting Superintendent Andrew Koutsoufis said police now believed someone tried to abduct April-lee.
"We believe that she was dragged into that vehicle and something has happened in that vehicle, and shortly afterwards she was ejected from that vehicle, dragged along, where she suffered some serious injuries," he said.
"[She is] just a 17-year-old girl walking alone in a dark street when she's encountered ... this. She had no support there with her, she was alone and I can't imagine how horrific it would have been."
April-lee said a detective had told her that she must have put up a fight to get out of the vehicle.
"I must have [wrestled open the door], because my mum has told me, like, all my life, as a teenager ... and even as a little kid, she's like 'April, if you're ever not safe and you need help, you should just scream as loud as you can, April, and help will come for you'.
"That's what I must have done."
April-lee also said she did not know why she posted the urgent message on Facebook.
"I am surprised I did that, I wrote that status and didn't call anyone up and say 'Oh, I'm in trouble, can you come and get me?', which would have been a better move, but I wrote it on Facebook, I do not know why."
Despite her significant injuries, April-lee said she never considered terminating her pregnancy.
"I said to mum 'It's a little baby' and I said 'I'm giving birth to him' or 'I'm bringing him into this world, so I'm not going to think about getting rid of him at all'," she said.
Her mother was initially worried for her daughter's well-being, but supported her decision.
"At first I've got to admit I was concerned," her mother, Leonie, said.
"But then later on, as April healed much more, she was clearer, well spoken and quite determined in what she wanted. So I said to April 'I'll be right by your side'. And it's the best decision we've made."
April-lee said her son was "a little boy version of his mum", and that she was recovering well from her injuries.
Asked what she thought of the person or people responsible for her injuries, April-lee responded: "I just think, why me? Why did you pick me out of all people? Why did it have to be me? But I wouldn't wish this on anyone."
No arrests have been made over the attempted abduction. Police have urged anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Originally published as April-lee Gillen woke from coma to find she was pregnant by smh.com.au
