Two people arrested after high-speed chase that ended in front of police HQ in Adelaide CBD
A western suburbs man said he “saw blood everywhere” when a stolen car, later involved in a high-speed chase across Adelaide, parked outside his home yesterday evening. A woman inside had been stabbed.
Police & Courts
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A man and woman will face court after hiring a chauffeur car to allegedly abduct a 70-year-old woman, who was then stabbed in the stomach on Tuesday night.
The incident sparked a high-speed chase across Adelaide that ended outside police headquarters.
Police say the pair – a 38-year-old woman and a 36-year-old man – booked a chauffeur in the northeastern suburb of Greenacres to drive them to a nearby home just after 5pm on Tuesday.
It is then alleged they took a 70-year-old woman, who is known to them, by force from that address.
The chauffeur became scared and got out of his Chrysler 300C on Bagot Rd, where he rushed to good Samaritan James Nybo.
“I was renovating the kitchen when I noticed a man at the front who was really panicked, and he was on the phone very loudly,” he told The Advertiser.
Mr Nybo and his three friends walked outside and said: “Are you OK mate?”
“As soon as he saw me, he darted straight over to me.”
Meanwhile, the 38-year-old woman allegedly got in the driver’s seat of the Chrysler.
Mr Nybo said she stopped outside his house, as her alleged accomplice got out of the vehicle to approach the victim.
“As this guy got closer, the (chauffeur) bolted down the street as fast as he could,” Mr Nybo said.
“We sort of stood our ground and said ‘get out of here’ and he quickly got in the car.”
Police converged on Bagot Rd and the chauffeur used the car’s tracking system to direct officers to Burt Ave in the western suburb of Hilton just before 6pm.
Resident Dejan Vujanic received a call from the man inside the car – someone he says he knew a decade ago – saying he was parked outside.
“I stepped out and while I was talking (on the phone), I realised there was a lady stabbed. She was all in blood,” he said.
“She looked empty, and I saw blood everywhere.
“After that, I went in my home pretending I was going to put some clothing on and I called the police.”
Officers swarmed Burt Ave and tried to trap the Chrysler 300C, but the female driver allegedly reversed into an unmarked police car and sped away, turning left on to Pearson St and then Sir Donald Bradman Drive towards the CBD.
Video footage posted on social media showed up to 15 patrol cars chasing the car through city streets. The chase then headed through the eastern suburbs along Glen Osmond Rd.
The driver is accused of driving up the South-Eastern Freeway with the police helicopter overhead.
She then allegedly performed a U-turn just before the Heysen Tunnels and travelled back towards the CBD, despite the car’s tyres being spiked near the Tollgate.
It then drove down Cross and Unley roads, before turning on to King William St and then Angas St, where the bizarre chase ended just before 6.30pm in front of SAPOL headquarters.
The driver and passenger, both of no fixed address, were arrested and will face the Adelaide Magistrates Court today.
They were both charged with threatening to kill, causing serious harm to another, detaining a person to commit an offence and theft. The woman was separately charged with engaging in a police pursuit.
The 70-year-old woman was taken to the Royal Adelaide Hospital with a stab wound to her abdomen and head injuries. She is in a serious but stable condition.
The incident is not a random attack with the 70-year-old known to the arrested pair.
A spokesman for 13 Cabs, which owns the Chrysler, said: “Fortunately, we were able to assist SAPOL to track the vehicle using the GPS tracking inbuilt in our fixed in-car dispatch system.”
“This terrible incident does support the view that chauffeured and rideshare vehicles should be required by law to have in-car tamper-proof cameras just as taxis have done for years.”
On Wednesday, Sharon Dyguazo Haywood, 38, and Ryan Louis O’Grady, 36, faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court by video link.
Neither applied for bail, but counsel for O’Grady asked the court order he undergo mental health assessment to determine his fitness to stand trial.
The duo were remanded in custody to face court again in August.