Kidnapped girl held in house close to home?

Press, 2 July 1983, Page 1

Kidnapped girl held in house close to home?

By

BRUCE RENNIE

Gloria Kong, the girl kidnapped at gunpoint from her Oamaru home on Wednesday evening was kept bound, gagged, and blindfolded with plugs in her ears until she managed to free herself yesterday morning.

Gloria, aged 14, whose abductors had demanded 5120,000 ransom, was kept most of the time she was held in a house no more than 20 minutes drive from her home, the police have said after a long interview with her. At one point, the girl, the daughter of a wealthy Oamaru market gardener, Mr Jimmy Kong, was kept in a cupboard. On another occasion her abductors put her in a bathtub that had a mattress in it. For most of the 24 hours or so she was kept at the house a woman stayed with her. The three men who kidnapped her came and went during the day, Gloria has told the police. About 30 men continued last evening to search the area round Oamaru for the four kidnappers, with armed offenders squad members from Dunedin and Timaru on standby in case they were needed. The police were maintaining road checks on several routes. Detective Inspector N. J. Stokes, of Christchurch, who is heading the police inquiry, last evening appealed

for assistance from Oamaru people. Mr Stokes released details of what Gloria heard during her captivity that might help identify the house in which she was held. She told the police that the area sounded like a rural one, although there were traffic noises, including the sound of a motorcycle. On Thursday afternoon she heard a rally or racing car being driven up and down a hill with rapid gear changes, as though it was being tested. From time to time a largish dog barked. Mr Stokes said that the police were aware that the four persons they sought could well have left the Oamaru area by now and the police were taking that into account in their search. Gloria’s abduction began just after 7.30 p.m. and may have been an afterthought to what was originally intended to be a robbery. Three men wearing fullface cloth masks and carrying a sawn-off shotgun and what appeared to be two sawn-off .22 rifles entered the Kong house in Fortifica-

tion Road, about Bkm south of Oamaru, in the heart of the market-gardening district. They ordered Mr Kong, his wife, Sue, and Gloria to lie on the floor, where they were all bound. While this was occurring three relatives arrived. They, too, were bound and left on the lounge floor. “They had been warned we were there,” said a relative, Mr Martin Tonkin. “I always toot on the car when we arrive.” One of the kidnappers told the three visitors to “shut up” and lie on the floor. “We thought it was some sort of joke,” Mr Tonkin, said. “When they told us to lie down I thought they were playing a game.” Only when he was lying beside his brother-in-law was he told, “This is a robbery.” The intruders initially demanded the keys to the family car, which they were given, and then money. They were given between $BO to $lOO. They then left with Gloria, still tied up.

A few minutes later Mrs Kong was able to free herself and call the police. Within 20 minutes of the kidnap Gloria’s father had a telephone call demanding a ransom of $120,000. Four more calls were received from the kidnappers making what the police described as “preliminary” arrangements about the ransom. However, nothing definite was ever set up and no money was handed over, Mr Stokes said. The kidnappers made all their calls after the first to friends of the Kong family, choosing a different one each time presumably in; order not to be traced. Within two hours of the abduction the police found the family car, about I.skm from Gloria’s home. Gloria has told the police she believes she was transferred to a panel van, possibly with a sliding side door. She was taken to a house where she was held on Wednesday night and Thursday. Some time on Thursday evening she was put in the van again and driven about for a considerable time before being left, still bound and gagged, inside a big grain sack in a haybarn in Ardgowan Road, on the outskirts of Oamaru, about Bkm north of her home. After struggling with the rope that bound her for several hours, Gloria was able to free herself about 9 a.m. and seek help from Mrs Marion Nicol, about 300 metres along the road. Gloria spent the next six hours being interviewed by the police, first at the Oamaru Police Station and later at her home. She was very cold, but otherwise unharmed. Mr Stokes said that apart from the indignity she had suffered from the way she had been held captive she had not been physically assaulted or sexually molested. Gloria told the police that she just wanted to have a shower and to sleep.