The Pajero, which was hijacked by two gunmen yesterday, is seen here at the Matilda's Corner Police Station after gunmen crashed it during a high-speed chase. Photo: Michael Gordon)

Police yesterday captured two gunmen after they abducted a Kingston woman at the Sovereign Shopping Centre in Liguanea, forced her into her Mitsubishi Pajero and led the cops on a high-speed chase through early afternoon traffic that eventually ended in a three-vehicle collision at one of the capital's busiest intersections.

The two gunmen were arrested and taken to the Half-Way-Tree lock-up, and their two guns confiscated, police told the Observer.

A shaken, but thankful son of the woman who was abducted for a short time yesterday, sits in the yard at the Matilda's Corner Police Station yesterday. (Photos: Michael Gordon)

The incident left the woman, who the gunmen had forced out of the Pajero shortly after the hijack, shaken. But her son, who spoke to the Observer after the ordeal, was thankful that she was not hurt.

"The vehicle is a material thing," he said of his mother's crashed Pajero. "That can be replaced, you know. But I thank God my mother is alive."

One of the two Toyota Corollas that were damaged in yesterday's ordeal.

The incident started some time after 1:00 pm when the woman, who had apparently completed a shopping errand, was forced into her vehicle by the two men who were lurking in the parking lot.

They sped away onto Barbican Road and eventually forced the woman out of the vehicle in the vicinity of Dewsbury Avenue, Inspector Wesley Christie, who is in charge at the Matilda's Corner Police Station, said.

"The police were alerted quickly by someone who saw what happened at Sovereign," Inspector Christie said. "We responded first, but were supported by patrols from other divisions."

It was not clear what route the gunmen took after they ejected their captive, but Inspector Christie said the chase, involving a least one vehicle from Matilda's Corner, continued onto Old Hope Road.

Police from Mobile Reserve, Half-Way-Tree and the Highway Patrol joined the chase before the Pajero eventually slammed into a forest green Toyota Corolla, which was going through the Tom Redcam Avenue, Old Hope and Oxford roads intersection on the filter light.

The impact of the collision resulted in another Corolla, a taxi, being hit and badly damaged.

The driver of the taxi, who declined to be named, told the Observer that the events unfolded like a movie.

"The Pajero was coming at high speed, with the police behind," he related. "After it slammed into the green car, the impact caused the back of the Pajero to hit me. After that, I just say, 'A what really a gwaan?"

He said that after the crash, the intersection was swarming with police.

The taxi driver, who was not injured, said he did not hear any shots being fired, contrary to an earlier claim that there was a shoot-out.

Two persons in the green Corolla were injured and were taken to the Kingston Public Hospital for treatment, Inspector Christie said.

Inspector Christie said he believed the motive was robbery, although the woman's handbag was found in the vehicle.
The three damaged vehicles are at the Matilda's Corner Police Station.

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