A British backpacker has been saved from an alleged kidnapper in Queensland after she managed to send a secret message to her dad indicating her location on a map.
On Monday Mary Kate Heys claims she was taken against her will from Mooloolaba, on the Sunshine Coast, to Gympie, two hours away, by a mentally unstable man she was initially trying to help, reports The Courier-Mail.
The 20-year-old tourist, who is originally from Manchester in England, said she got into the car with a Swedish friend, whom she described as being in a “manic state”, at about 4:30am, because she thought he was having some kind of mental episode and he shouldn’t be alone.
After driving for a while the man began talking about aliens and how the pair had to travel 1600kms to Cairns to “escape”.
“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.”
Days before the alleged kidnapping ordeal Ms Heys shared a happy snap at Point Cartwright Beach, Mooloolaba. PHOTO: Instagram.
Freaking out about what she’d gotten herself into Ms Heys, who only arrived in Australia two weeks ago, sent a series of panicked texts to her dad, who was back in England, asking him to call the police.
Her messages reportedly started:
“Dad, are you awake? I need you to call Australian police.”
She then sent:
“I’ve been taken by a man… please hurry.”
Thankfully, her father got the texts and called the police while Mary continued to covertly send him messages with her location so she could be tracked by police.
Police intercepted the car at Gympie and rescued the woman and took the 22-year-old Swedish national to hospital.
“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,” a police spokesperson told news.com.au of the incident.
“Police managed to pull the car over and take the guy into custody and to hospital.”
Ms Heys, who only met her alleged captor days before the ordeal, has reportedly requested he not be charged.
“…I think he needs help rather than going to jail,” she told The Courier Mail.
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