Lucky escape - Motorist held up by gunmen jumps from car to save his life

A St Catherine man says he was robbed of his car, severely beaten and nearly killed last week after he tried to do a favour for a 'friend'.

He said the woman, who he has known for almost a year, usually pays him to carry her around.

"She told me that she was at Hellshire and she wanted me to take her home. I reached the location minutes to 10 p.m.," said Joe*. After finding her, they were exiting Hellshire Beach, when she asked if he could take one of her friends home. He admitted that he was sceptical when she exited the vehicle to search of her friend.

"About four minutes later, she called me and said I should come back to where I initially picked her up," Joe said. "I went back there and she came in the vehicle, and a guy came in the vehicle and sat directly behind me. My roof light was on and I hailed him and he didn't respond. I found it to be a little bit weird."

While driving through the car park, Joe said he felt two blows to the back of his head, and turned around to find himself staring down the barrel of a gun being held by the passenger. He was threatened to remain quiet or he would be killed.

"Shortly after, my driver door pull [open] and one man came in. Another came from the other door. I was pushed to the back of the vehicle," he said, adding that the female remained silent. Joe said he began pleading for his life and told the men that they were free to take his Toyota motor car. He said one of his abductors said that they were going to kill him and another pulled out a black garbage bag. Joe's life flashed before him.

"I am an only child and my mind flashed on my parents. I am just 25 and I don't accomplish anything as yet. My mind flashed on Leroy [Page, the missing inDrive courier]. I just started fighting," he said. Joe said he managed to press the lever which opened the door, but the man with the garbage bag hit him in the face a few times with what appeared to be a firearm.

"We were right at the roundabout at Hellshire and I was just fighting. The driver was trying to close back the door but I used a part of my body to force it to stay open. By this time I had enough space to jump, and this time my body weight was on the man who was driving. The two others were holding on ... to pull me back in. I was fighting and my adrenaline was working, and dem leggo offa mi," he said.

Having fallen from the vehicle, Joe said he removed his brightly coloured shirt and hid in bushes. He said he watched as the men circled the area searching for him, with the female still in the car. Paranoid and trembling with fear, he said he cautiously crawled out of his hiding place and began walking toward Hellshire Heights. Joe said he tried to stop a number of drivers, but believes that they did not help him because he was bloodied.

"Eventually a car stopped and thankfully, the driver was someone I knew from church. He and his wife transported me to the Hellshire Police Station after I explained the situation," he said. Joe said the police took him to the Spanish Town Hospital where he was treated. He later gave a statement to the Greater Portmore Police Station, which THE STAR can confirm. On Thursday, he said his scrapped vehicle was recovered by the lawmen in a cane field in Bernard Lodge.

He said the female called him the following day and told him that the men threatened to rape her if she didn't assist them. She also said they let her go after he escaped. Though sceptical, Joe said, "I am just grateful that I am alive."

*name changed to protect identity