Latia Henderson on bail awaiting sentence for Nisha Phillips kidnapping

A woman held hostage in her own car boot as it drove toward Belanglo State Forest unscrewed a tail light with her fingernail to flag down motorists. Now her kidnapper fights for her freedom.

A young woman bleeding so profusely she was passing out while held hostage in a car boot managed to unscrew a tail light with her fingernail to flag down passing motorists.

Nisha Phillips, 24, was found with knife stab wounds in the boot of her own Holden Commodore on the Hume Highway at Berrima on February 3, 2021.

Pregnant teen Latia Henderson and Kayley Lee Ketley have pleaded guilty to their roles in kidnapping the victim.

They were on their way to the Belanglo State Forest when motorists called police about an arm waving out the back of the car.

Ms Phillips told police a disagreement over music choice while driving around at night sparked the entire affair.

Henderson, who was released on bail weeks before she gave birth to her son last year, has pleaded guilty to a charge of taking and driving a conveyance and take/detain in company with the intent to commit a serious indictable offence occasioning actual bodily harm.

Latia Henderson.

The 20-year-old woman also pleaded guilty to unlicensed driving during the ordeal.

She fronted Campbelltown District Court on Friday where a representative for the Director of Public Prosecutions made a detention application after Henderson’s sentence date had been vacated.

He said it was inevitable she would face time in custody.

Henderson’s lawyer opposed the detention application, saying his client’s sentence date needed to be moved as there were delays in having a “critical” psychological report tendered.

“It is accepted that for the purposes of the application that my client would be going into full-time custody,” he said.

“We are simply asking for her to remain at her liberty so my client can make (personal) arrangements.”

Judge Jennifer English said the primary reason for the sentence being delayed was the need for defence lawyers to organise an appointment for Henderson to attend a psychological assessment and receive a report, noting she was on a waiting list.

Judge English said Henderson should have previously made arrangements to sort out her personal matters, given a custodial sentence was inevitable.

Latia Henderson.

In making her assessment on a detention application, Judge English took into account Henderson had been granted Supreme Court bail and had not breached her conditions.

She also considered jails were still uncertain places given isolation and lockdown requirements, noting there was no guarantee Henderson would be able to keep an appointment for the psychological assessment and it was preferable to do it face-to-face.

Judge English noted Henderson had not presented an unacceptable risk to the community and refused the detention application.

She put the Crown and defence lawyers on notice that Henderson must be sentenced on December 8.

Ketley, 26, remains behind bars. She pleaded guilty to taking and driving a conveyance without consent of the owner, take/detain in company with serious indictable occasion, and reckless wounding.

Ketley pleaded guilty to a back-up charge of possessing a prohibited drug. She is due to be sentenced on October 26.

Court documents and the agreed facts reveal the harrowing details of what happened between 10.30pm on February 2, 2021, and the following day when Ms Phillips was spotted desperately waving out of a tail light for help just 6km away from the exit to Belanglo.

Tension builds

The victim Nisha Phillips first met Kayley Lee Ketley in November 2020 and later introduced her to Latia Henderson. She would drive the pair around.

On February 2 the following year, Henderson, who was 12 weeks pregnant, texted a friend and asked her to smoke cannabis with her.

That night, court documents state Ms Phillips was driving around Henderson and Ketley.

About 3.20am on February 3, Ms Phillips said to Ketley, “do we have a problem?”.

Nisha Phillips.

Ketley said: “Why can’t I just sit here? Why do you have to be straight on me all the time?”

“Just chill, it’s all good. I just wanted to know cause it felt like there was tension between us,” Ms Phillips said.

Ketley then asked her to change the music and go through a McDonald’s drive-through, but Ms Phillips refused.

“Latia is pregnant and she needs to eat, that is so rude,” Ketley said.

But Ms Phillips refused because she was really tired and “needed to get off the road”.

Ketley then asked Henderson where the knife was before leaning forward and saying: “I will slit your throat without even blinking, with no effort at all.”

‘Today I am going to kill you’

The trio arrived at a Glenfield home and Ms Phillips relaxed on the couch as the others went upstairs. Ketley returned holding a knife.

“All you had to do was stop, all you had to do was stop,” Ketley said as she stabbed Ms Phillips in the knee and thigh.

The agreed facts detail how Ms Phillips froze in fear as she felt pain while Ketley threatened: “I am going to make you squeal like a pig. I just need to let it all out.”

“Last time this happened I got four-and-a-half years and this time it’s not going to happen like that,” Ketley said. “Today I am going to kill you.”

Ms Phillips attempted to put pressure on her wounds while Ketley took her car keys and phone.

‘Get in the boot’

Henderson and Ketley left the house in Ms Phillips’ car at 5am while another person in the house tried to help Ms Phillips stem the bleeding.

The victim kept checking her heart rate as she thought she was going to bleed out and die.

When Ketley and Henderson returned more than an hour later, Ketley is believed to have said it was a “shame” the victim was still alive.

“I guess we are going to have to like, drag this on now, hey, like I was hoping you would have just, you know, given up,” the agreed facts stated Ketley had said.

Henderson and Ketley went back upstairs before Ketley returned carrying a 30cm kitchen knife.

Kayley Ketley and Latia Henderson.

She said “get up” and Ms Phillips replied: ”I am not going to be able to get up, you stabbed me in the knee.”

“I don’t care, I’ll stab you again so get up … do you want me to stab you again?” Ketley said.

The victim got up and Ketley stood behind the victim and pressed the knife into her back and told her to walk.

“Don’t make a scene or I will kill you right here,” she said.

Ketley popped the boot open and told Ms Phillips to get in.

Ms Phillips said: “Please man you don’t have to do this, like I’m not gonna dog on you”.

“This is what happens to people that want to find out why you don’t f--k with me,” Ketley said.

The victim got in and Ketley closed the boot.

‘We have to get rid of her now’

Ketley began to drive away about 7am as Ms Phillips lay terrified in the boot and used a shoelace as a makeshift tourniquet to try and control the bleeding.

She could hear Henderson try to calm Ketley down, but the agreed facts say she remained enraged and said it was “too late now, we have to get rid of her”.

At one point, the pair stopped and opened the boot. Henderson took the knife and stabbed Ms Phillips on her arms before again driving away.

‘I don’t want to be part of this’

At 8.55am, the car pulled into an Ambarvale home where Ms Phillips heard someone say: “Who’s in the back? They better deserve this, I don’t want to be part of this unless they deserve it.”

Ketley replied: “F--k her, don’t worry about her, she’s fine, I just want to have a smoke.”

Latia Henderson.

When Henderson and Ketley went inside, the boot opened and Ms Phillips told a man that “I am pretty sure Ketley is going to kill me”.

Ketley demanded Ms Phillips get back into the boot before again driving off.

Journey to Belanglo State Forest

After stopping to smoke cannabis at Douglas Park about 10.20am, the pair drove south on the Hume Highway, with Henderson’s phone searching for directions to Belanglo State Forest.

During the drive they sang along to music and filmed videos and in several recordings, directions to Belanglo State Forest can be seen.

Despite passing out a few times, Ms Phillips managed to remove the car’s left tail light using her fingernail to unscrew a screw and push the tail light out.

She put her hand out of the hole, frantically waving at cars to try and get them to notice and call for help.

Her plan was successful — two sets of motorists on the Hume Highway noticed the victim’s hand about 11.30am and contacted police.

Officer spots hand in tail-light

The message was put out to emergency services and soon after a police officer driving an unmarked police car saw Ms Phillips’ hand and stopped the car near Berrima, about 6km from the Belanglo turn-off.

When questioned about who was in the boot, Henderson, who was then driving, claimed she did not know anyone else was in the car.

Another police officer, Special Constable Brendan Quinn, arrived and walked to the back of the car, leant towards the tail light and said “what’s your name, love?” before he folded down the rear seats and helped the victim out.

Kayley Ketley.

The first police officer asked “so why have you got a woman in the … boot of your car” and both Henderson and Ketley appeared to panic.

Constable Quinn rendered first aid and asked Ms Phillips “what was the story, have they taken you hostage”, and she said “yes” while crying.

Henderson asked the police officer if Ms Phillips was okay.

Victim’s account

While in the ambulance, Ms Phillips participated in a recorded interview with police and told the officer an argument about music in the car led to the attack.

“I think she misinterpreted a question that I asked her … she (Ketley) got really mad over that question … started verbally attacking me … threatening me … big talk,” Ms Phillips told police.

“She started escalating really quick … like it was zero to 100 in like one-second flat.”

Ms Phillips said she thought Henderson felt quite guilty when she realised how far it had gone.

Ketley denied stabbing Ms Phillips and said she had no idea the woman was in the car.

She told police another woman told her to pick up the Commodore at an Ambarvale car park and drive it back to a hire location in Colo Vale.

In her police interview, Ketley also said her fingerprints would not be found on the knife.

In a police interview, Henderson made partial admissions to the offences, saying she knew Ms Phillips was in the car but did not know when she had been stabbed.

She also told police she wiped blood off the back of the car with a tea towel, saying it was an “iffy” situation.