Mother kidnapped at gunpoint, her body found in burned car

An 8-year-old has been bashed, a teen traumatised and their mother kidnapped – with her burned body believed to have been found.

A body found in a burnt-out car is suspected to be that of a woman kidnapped at gunpoint in front of her children, police say. Photo: Gaye Gerard / NewsWire

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

A body found in a burned car in Sydney’s south is believed to be that of a mother dragged screaming from her home at gunpoint as her eight-year-old son was beaten with a baseball bat.

Police were called to a home in Bankstown in south at about 10.30pm on Thursday night, where they were told a group of five men in hoodies and balaclavas forced their way into the home and kidnapped a 45-year-old woman at gunpoint.

The woman’s two children were at home at the time, her 15-year-old son witnessing the kidnapping and her eight year-old boy allegedly assaulted with a baseball bat.

The woman was reportedly stripped and assaulted before being forced into a dark-coloured SUV as the older boy called for help.

Emergency services were called to Welfare Ave in Beverly Hills following reports of a car fire about 11.30pm on Thursday. Photo: Gaye Gerard / NewsWire

Her 8-year-old son was treated by NSW Ambulance paramedics for serious head injuries before being going into surgery on Friday morning. He is in a serious but stable condition, police say. The 15-year-old also attended hospital for assessment.

About an hour after reports of the kidnapping in Bankstown, residents of nearby Beverly Hills called emergency services to a car fire at 11.30pm.

Fire and rescue crews discovered a heavily burned body inside the car after extinguished the blaze.

The body has not been formally identified, but police “strongly believe and suspect” it to be the kidnapped woman.

Superintendent Rodney Hart of Bankstown Police said the woman’s husband - and father of the boys - was interstate for business and had rushed back to Sydney to be with his children and speak with police.

“This crime is horrendous. The level of violence is unheard of,” Supt Hart said.

“I can only imagine what those children went through seeing their mother dragged out of the home, forced into the back of a car.”
“For an 8-year-old and a 15-year-old, what that will do to them I can only imagine,” he said.

Police are unaware of a motive for the kidnapping, but are considering it a targeted rather than a random attack. The family was “not very well known” to police but had previous “very small” interactions with them, Supt Hart said.

Police said it is too early to know whether the targeted kidnapping was organised crime or gang-related.

Crime scenes have been established at the woman’s Bankstown home and in Beverly Hills where the car was found. Photo: Gaye Gerard / NewsWire

Police do not yet know whether the woman died before the fire, but her son witnessed her being forced into the SUV while alive.

Crime scenes have been established on Welfare Ave North in Beverly Hills and at the family’s Bankstown home.

Strike Force Bushfield has been established to investigate, with police intending to canvass the six kilometre stretch between crime scenes for CCTV.

“We have put all available resources on this strike force,” Supt Hart said.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.