‘Abducted’ British backpacker rescued after sending texts to dad
BACKPACKER Mary Kate Heys really “thought she was going to die”. Trapped with a mentally unstable man, she fired off some desperate texts.
A BRITISH backpacker has been rescued from being held captive in a car in Australia after she managed to send texts to her dad showing her location on Google Maps.
Mary Kate Heys says she was snatched by a mentally unstable man who she thought was on drugs, prompting her to want to help him.
The 20-year-old traveller got into his car in Mooloolaba, on the Sunshine Coast, north of Brisbane, before being driven more than two hours to the town of Gympie, police said.
Ms Heys, who is originally from Manchester, was woken about 4.30am by the man in a “manic state” asking her to go on a road trip, The Courier-Mail reports.
She said she feared for his safety and wanted to get into the car to keep an eye on him.
He then began ranting about aliens and how they needed to travel nearly 1600km to Cairns in north Queensland.
“He kept talking about how ‘they’ (aliens) were coming to get us and we had to get to Cairns to escape,” Ms Heys told The Courier-Mail.
“I was so scared and I thought I was going to die.”
Ms Heys resorted to sending texts to her dad back in England.
“I said ‘don’t worry’ but I knew getting a message like that would be a parent’s worst nightmare,” she revealed.
Her panicked flurry of texts said “Dad are you awake”, “I need you to call Australian Police” and “I’ve been taken by a man … please hurry”.
She sent her location via Google Maps, and her father notified Aussie police.
Cops pulled over the car in Gympie — more than 90km from where they set off — and took a 22-year-old Swedish man to hospital.
A spokesman for Queensland Police told news.com.au officers had been notified that a woman had become trapped in a car with a man in the Sunshine Coast area about 4.20am on Monday.
Police said the woman had agreed to accompany the man on a journey to Brisbane from the Sunshine Coast hostel where they were staying, but during the journey asked to leave the car and was refused.
“Basically what’s happened is a woman’s got into a car with a guy and he’s driven her up to Gympie apparently against her will,” the spokesman said.
The trip went on for about one and a half hours before officers intervened.
“Police managed to pull the car over and take the guy into custody and to hospital.”
The man was interviewed, police confirmed, but after officers interviewed the woman she “hasn’t asked for him to be charged”.
The Mirror reports that the man is now in a mental health unit, according to police.
Tourist Ms Heys only arrived in Australia two weeks ago and reportedly met her alleged captor a few days before her ordeal.
During the terrifying journey, she managed to convince her captor to pull over at a petrol station for a drink.
She alerted staff, but after the police failed to appear she got back in the car and the pair drove on. The police later caught up with the car.
No charges are being pressed against the man.
This story originally appeared in The Sun and was republished with permission
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