A BROTHER and sister endured a terrifying kidnap ordeal early Sunday morning after accepting a ride from a man claiming to be a security guard.
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The siblings had failed to link up with their organised lift home to Warrnambool from Port Fairy, where they had been attending the folk festival.
The woman, 21, and her brother, 16, were sitting near the Caledonian Hotel (pictured below) in the town about 2.30am when they noticed a man driving around looking at them and their friends.
Detective Senior Constable Colin Ryan, of the Warrnambool police crime investigation unit, told a remand hearing early yesterday morning that the man pulled up and asked the siblings when they were going home.
He told them he was a council security guard and was driving around making sure young people got home safely.
“The woman jumped into the rear of the car and the boy in the front. The driver has then headed towards Warrnambool and got to the Rowans Lane Winery (at Farnham Road) when he stopped on the highway,” Detective Senior Constable Ryan said.
“The driver is alleged to have asked the lad to get three Jim Beam bourbon cans out of the boot.
“When the lad gets out, the driver is alleged to have planted his foot on the accelerator and completed a U-turn, before heading back towards Koroit.
“He is alleged to have said to the woman, ‘I’m taking you’. She claims to be screaming at this time.”
He said the woman decided to jump from the moving vehicle.
“She jumped out of the car while it’s travelling at an estimated 40km/h to 50 km/h. She tumbled out the right-hand side of the vehicle right onto the middle of the road on the bitumen,” he said.
“She suffered grazing and bruising and was picked up by her brother and they fled south into the paddocks.”
Terrified, the boy grabbed a stick in case the man came back looking for them, according to Detective Senior Constable Ryan.
The pair eventually ran across the paddocks and hid at the Dennington Bowls Club, where the woman phoned police on her mobile to tell them what had happened.
He said the siblings alleged they saw the man driving past five or six times, the last time heading east towards Warrnambool. Police intercepted the driver on the Warrnambool side of the Dennington bridge, where the siblings approached and identified the man.
The man was processed for drink-driving and allegedly recorded a blood alcohol reading of .091.
The woman and her brother later got a ride back home from Dennington with an off-duty taxi driver.
The siblings went to the Warrnambool police station on Sunday, where they made further statements.
At 7.15pm Sunday police arrested a 41-year-old Koroit man. He has been remanded in custody charged with kidnapping and will appear in court today.