Ransom paid in 1980 case

Press, 2 July 1983, Page 8

Ransom paid in 1980 case

PA Auckland The only recorded kidnapping in New Zealand in which a ransom was demanded and paid occurred in Auckland in February, 1980, when the daughter of a bank manager was abducted from her home. A man climbed through the bedroom window of the young woman, aged 19, and forced her to accompany him and a woman accomplice in a car. She was blindfolded and held in a suburban house. Her father was approached by the kidnappers and told to hand over a ransom at a rendezvous in Mount Roskill. He handed over $50,000 and his daughter was released unharmed. Later the same day detectives arrested a man, aged

33, and his wife, aged 22, and charged them with kidnapping the young woman. The ransom money was recovered. After a trial in the High Court the couple were found guilty by a jury. Sentencing the man to five years jail, Mr Justice Prichard said the offence was cruel and heartless and carried the risk of danger to the hostage. The Crown prosecutor, Mr Eric Winkel, said the fear of kidnapping “strikes at the very root and foundation of family life and it would be intolerable... if people were allowed to introduce that kind of crime.” The man’s wife was ordered to come up for sentence if called upon within two years.