By Natassia Chrysanthos
Two Sydney women have been charged after another woman was found with stab wounds in the boot of a car they were driving through the Southern Highlands on Wednesday.
Latia Henderson, 18, and Kayley Lee Ketley, 24, will appear in court on Thursday after the car was reported to police by a truck driver, who spotted the woman in the boot waving her hand through a hole created by a missing tail-light.
Latia Henderson, top right, and Kayley Ketley. NSW police stopped a white Holden sedan on the Hume Highway at Berrima after receiving reports of a hand waving from its tail light section.Credit: Nine News/Facebook
Both women are from the Campbelltown area and police were on Wednesday investigating why they were in the Southern Highlands and if the alleged abduction was related to drug crime.
But on Thursday morning, Detective Chief Inspector Brendan Bernie from the Hume Police District said the incident appeared to have been motivated by personal grievances.
“It appears to be just personal violence related,” he said on Sunrise. “We are still following up inquiries... but that is what the early indications are that I have been told.”
Police were alerted to the incident after the truck driver called Triple Zero about 11.30am on Wednesday from the Hume Highway at Pheasants Nest.
Patrol officers set up in different positions along the highway and police stopped the car, a white Holden Commodore, about 45 kilometres south in Berrima at 11.50am.
The woman in the boot, 24, was found suffering multiple stab wounds to her knee, thigh and forearm but had non-life-threatening injuries. She was transported to Liverpool Hospital, where she assisted police with inquiries.
Chief Inspector Bernie told 2GB the woman had a “fair amount of blood on her”. “I think [she was] very thankful she was found by police,” he said.
Police are still investigating where the two women were planning to take the third woman.
Chief Inspector Bernie said police had been told that all three women first met up at a place in Claymore, in south-west Sydney, on Tuesday evening. “Sometime yesterday morning she was stabbed and placed in the boot,” he said.
“We’ll be alleging she was in the car for several hours before she was sighted... We’ve got a few more investigative steps to take.”
He told Sunrise that the woman was “holding up remarkably well”. “She is still in hospital. We are expecting her to undergo surgery on the wounds to her legs and forearm,” he said.
“But it is certainly unusual and insanely good work done by both the motorist who was very observant in finding and seeing the hand, calling Triple Zero, and by our Highway Patrol officers who picked up the car a short time later.”
Police arrested Ms Henderson and Ms Ketley and took them to the Southern Highlands police station where they were charged with a number of offences on Wednesday night. Chief Inspector Bernie said they complied with police inquiries.
Both women have been charged with wounding a person with the intent of causing grievous bodily harm, kidnapping offences, and taking and driving a car without the consent of its owner.
Ms Henderson was also charged with driving a vehicle without a license, while Ms Ketley was charged with driving a vehicle while disqualified and drug possession.
Chief Inspector Bernie on Wednesday described it as “a terrible incident”. “It’s very rare that police have intercepted it in the process, so to speak. We’re just happy no one was killed or seriously injured,” he said.
Ms Henderson was a close friend of teenager Brayden Dillon, who was killed in a revenge execution in 2017. “He was a really good friend of mine. It’s so hard to accept the fact that he’s gone,” she told media at the time.
The two women were refused bail and will appear in Picton Local Court on Thursday.