Carjacker wore hi-vis to f lag down woman

Manhunt for knife-wielding 4x4 thief

‘She was left badly shaken’

A MANHUNT is under way after a car thief wearing a hi-vis jacket flagged down a woman as she drove home from work and stole her car at knifepoint.

The woman in her 40s pulled over her 4x4 just before 7am yesterday when she saw the man in the hi-vis signalling for assistance as she approached a roundabout near Kill, Co. Kildare.

But as soon as he approached her vehicle, a Blue Hyundai Tucson, he immediately produced a knife and threatened her.

The woman, who works for an IT company in Leixlip, fled her 4x4 vehicle and ran away on foot.

She phoned 999 moments after the suspect drove her car off at speed on the motorway towards Dublin.

Sources said the woman was left ‘traumatised’ following the incident.

Gardaí said in a statement yesterday that the suspect in the case ‘may have been involved in a single car collision on the Straffan Road a short time earlier’.

It is understood the car involved in that collision was a Toyota Starlet which had been stolen from a housing estate in the Tallaght, Dublin, hours earlier.

Criminals managed to steal the vehicle after they gained access to its key by ‘fishing’ through the Tallaght householder’s letter box, using a magnetic device.

The stolen Toyota car travelled from Tallaght up towards Naas.

Sources say the stolen Toyota was involved in a minor collision and was then abandoned by its driver.

No arrests have yet been made in relation to the subsequent carjacking.

Gardaí in Naas are investigating and a manhunt was last night under way for the hi-vis suspect.

Gardaí said in a statement: ‘Shortly before 7am a female motorist in her 40s was flagged down by a male pedestrian as she approached a roundabout on Bothar Philip near Kill.

‘She spoke with the pedestrian who proceeded to threaten her at knifepoint before making off in her car, a Blue Hyundai Tucson.

‘It’s understood the car travelled in the direction of the N7 northbound. The woman, although not physically harmed, was left badly shaken by the incident. The car has yet to be recovered and no arrests have been made to date.’

Well-placed sources said that gardaí are now focusing investigations on members of a number of organised crime gangs who are involved in ‘fishing’ car keys from homes through letter boxes.

So-called ‘fishing’ cases have been commonplace – in Dublin particularly – in which thieves use a rod-like object adorned with a magnet to steal keys without breaking into the house.