A mother has been reunited with her four-week-old baby daughter after heartless carjackers stole the family's car with the tiny girl still strapped in the back.
Claire O'Neill, 39, fought for her child, clinging to the door her Audi A3 sports car as thieves took it from outside her home in Birmingham yesterday afternoon.
She was dragged along the street and sent crashing to the road as the two suspects fled with her daughter Eliza still in her car seat. Neighbours heard the mother screaming 'my baby, my baby' as the car disappeared.
After a huge search operation by the police, the little girl was found abandoned at a nearby health centre and was reunited with Ms O'Neill, who suffered cuts and grazes to her face and legs in the struggle.
Police released a picture of the pair in hospital together today, with Ms O'Neill seen smiling despite a nasty gash above her eye and a bloody mouth.
Friends and neighbours sent their best wishes online, with Rachel Bullock tweeting: 'Get well soon Claire. Can't begin to imagine what you went through x '
Another local added: 'Good to see them back together. Hope the vile criminals get what's coming to them.'
The horrifying incident came just three days after another Audi S3 was targeting in a violent carjacking six miles away in the Nechells area of the city.
Neighbour Anjana Chavda, 66, a civil servant, witnessed the incident yesterday.
She said: 'I saw a lady being dragged by the car. She was holding on to the car as it went down the street.
'She was clinging on with all her might but she lost her grip. I went into the front window and saw this car going down very fast. It was horrific.'
Ms Chavda's husband, Kanu 68, added: 'I came outside and saw a woman on the floor, her knees bleeding, and her head.. she was crying hysterically.
'People gathered around her trying to comfort her. The police took a long time to arrive, approximately 15 minutes. Then the ambulance came to take her away ten minutes after that.
'We've never had anything like this happen. Not even cars stolen. We have a good Neighbourhood Watch in this street already.'
MailOnline
No comments:
Post a Comment