A mother-of-three has recounted the terrifying moment a prison escapee covered in blood approached her before allegedly demanding she drive him away.
Rachelle was sitting inside her car in Little Bay in Sydney’s south on Monday when she alleges a man emerged from a house and demanded he take control of her car.
“I saw blood on him so I was quite scared, he told me he just got out of jail,” she told Nine News on Tuesday.
Jason Melbom, 43, escaped from Long Bay correctional centre around midday on Monday, and police were responding to reports that he had been sighted at a Little Bay home.
Police will allege he attackeda woman inside her home on Esperance Close before walking into the street and carjacking a vehicle in the same street.
“I need a key, I need to take this car, give me your car,” the Sydney mum recalls him yelling at her.
She refused to hand they keys over before she claims he told her she would need to drive him to the south.
“He did tell me he wouldn’t hurt me as long as I did what he told me to do,” she said.
“My heart was racing but what was going through my mind was ‘when can I run?
“When can I make a run for it?’”
She drove the vehicle as far as Beverley Park when Melbom allegedly bolted from the car when it stopped at Battye Avenue.
Officers were notified of his location and pursued him on foot before he was arrested on the same street at about 1pm.
The 43-year-old man was taken to Kogarah Police Station where he was charged with inmate escape from lawful custody, two counts of aggravated break and enter and commit serious indictable offence, take and drive conveyance without consent of owner and two counts of take and detain person with intent to obtain advantage.
He was refused bail and appeared at Sutherland Local Court on Tuesday.
There were no reports of any person being seriously injured.
The woman was taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital for observation.
Corrective Services NSW has been contacted for comment.