An elderly woman was robbed and allegedly kidnapped by a knife-wielding intruder that burst into her home in south-west Sydney.
Maria, 74, answered the door of her Kemps Creek home to a man who claimed that he wanted to make a phone call before things turned violent.
Maria described the beginning of the terrifying incident in an interview with 9News.
“He knocked on the door and said that he wanted to make a phone call and then he lost it and went through the garage door and broke in, (then he) just came and grabbed me,” said Maria.
“He had a knife in his hands, he pushed me on the floor and took my two chains off, I got scared when I was on the floor and I did say in my mind that tonight I will be on TV dead.”
After knocking Maria down and taking her jewelry, it is alleged that the attacker then forced the 74-year-old woman into the passenger seat of her own car and threatened her as she was taken on a terrifying ride through west Sydney.
The attacker then drove around with Maria in the car as he performed a series of errands before stopping at a pharmacy and going inside while leaving Maria locked in her own car.
It is alleged that the man injected himself with something during the kidnapping ordeal, before leaving the keys inside the car which allowed Maria to escape.
“I was very happy I had that chance. I was happy to come to my place in one piece,” she said.
“It’s really, really sad that a man can do that.”
Maria’s attacker was arrested earlier this week and identified as 49-year-old Ross Camino.
Mr. Camino was denied bail in court yesterday after being charged with the alleged kidnapping and a sperate aggravated robbery charge from an attack on a 60-year-old woman last week.
In the second attack, it is believed that Ross Camino assaulted the 60-year-old woman as she was walking home in Castlereagh street, Liverpool, last Tuesday before he grabbed her handbag.
The 60-year-old victim was left with a fractured eyesocket after the attack and it is believed that Mr. Camino dropped the woman’s handbag before fleeing the scene.
Ross Camino will face court again in April.
