Dragan Radonovic allegedly kidnapped woman in Wolli Creek

A man has faced court on allegations he kidnapped a 22-year-old woman and terrorised her in her own home for a handful of meagre spoils.

Police searched a high-rise building for two fugitives after reports of an assault. Picture: Supplied

An armed man allegedly kidnapped a woman from a Sydney supermarket and terrorised her in her own home all for a handful of relatively meagre spoils, including designer handbags, an iPhone and a Tupperware container of loose change, a court heard.

According to police, officers caught Dragan Radonovic, 37, as he emerged from a Wolli Creek apartment block lift with the 22-year-old woman he allegedly kidnapped and an unknown male who fled and remains at large.

Radonovic – who police allege was armed with a “long, thin fishing knife” – allegedly approached and threatened the woman before forcing her to take them to her Levey St unit.

The pair then allegedly ransacked the unit, robbing the woman of designer handbags, an Apple iPhone 11, Apple Airpods and a Tupperware container of loose change.

Officers intercepted the men with the woman in the unit foyer after the woman was able to surreptitiously alert a friend to the incident.

Radonovic was subsequently charged with kidnapping and robbery and was refused bail by Magistrate Michael Connell at Sutherland Local Court.

“On the facts before the court, that would have been a terrifying experience for the alleged victim,” Mr Connell said.

“The victim, no doubt, on these facts has considerable concern for her safety and also the safety of family members.”

Radonovic will remain in custody on remand and will return to court in March.

His Legal Aid solicitor Mary Underwood told the court Radonovic could have lived with his pregnant partner at their Woy Woy home on the Central Coast and reported daily to police as well as abiding by a curfew in her efforts to have him released on bail.

However, it was to no avail due to the seriousness of the allegations against Radonovic.

“There is a strong prosecution case and these allegations are very serious,” Mr Connell said.

“The court would have very significant concerns for the safety of the victim and the family and there is a likelihood of a custodial sentence if he is convicted.”

The court heard Radonovic had once served a brief prison stint for driving while disqualified while he was already serving a suspended sentence for the same offence and had been convicted in the District Court for assault causing actual bodily harm in 2003.

The alleged incident took place at about 6pm on Wednesday evening.

At least eight police cars and four riot squad trucks were parked on the streets below the building.

Sniffer dogs were also spotted at the scene and officers were seen carrying battering rams into one of the apartments as Levey St was closed to traffic.

Residents inside the apartment and in nearby buildings took to social media to document the scene.

“I’m locked in,” one Wolli Creek resident wrote in the Wolli Creek Community Facebook group, while another apartment dweller mourned their takeaway dinner left outside in the chaos: “My Uber Eats”.

The search efforts left some residents out in the dark for hours as police kept looking.

“Will be locked out for hours apparently,” one wrote, while another shared: “My poor wife is stuck outside in this awful weather.”