Posted: 15:38, 25 August 2022 | Updated: 16:16, 25 August 2022
A couple whose nine-month-old baby was in the back seat when a thief stole their car were forced to flag down a learner driver in a desperate chase, it was revealed today. The terrifying incident unfolded on Sunday at around 7pm in Cambra, Dublin, when the thief jumped into the couple’s Skoda as the family prepared to leave home. The couple, who are both in their 20s, had just put their nine-month-old and seven-year-old children in the back seat before rushing back into the house, relatives told Independent.ie. Moments later, the seven-year-old entered the house when a stranger jumped into the car. The panicked parents ran outside to find the man speeding down the road with their baby still in the vehicle. At that moment, a learner driver was running down the road, and the young couple frantically ran down the road and explained the situation. They got into the car and bravely chased the thief, but lost him when he ran a red light and disappeared into the distance. Shaken by terror, the couple briefly thought their worst fears had been realized until they discovered their baby had been left crying on the side of a nearby road. The baby was abandoned on this road a short walk from where the thief stole the car A relative of the family speaking to Independent.ie said the learner driver did his best to chase the speeding thief, but explained that his erratic and dangerous driving made it impossible to follow. “They didn’t know which way he went and it took a while to catch up with the car. He went through a red light somewhere and eventually they ended up in Phoenix Park where the car accelerated and flew over the speed ramps,” said the unnamed relative. “The learner driver could not keep up… [the parents] they were terrified for their baby and thought it was still in the car. “But then the young mother got a phone call to say the baby had been found [on a nearby road] opposite a group of shops’. The terrifying incident unfolded on Sunday afternoon in Cambra, Dublin, when the thief jumped into the couple’s Skoda as the family prepared to leave home (Dublin city center pictured) A resident in the street where the baby was found spoke of the moment the thief realized he had unwittingly kidnapped a baby and pulled him over to unload. “The man just got out and took the infant from the back of the car and left it on the footpath and sped away. ‘[Onlookers] I couldn’t believe what happened and it ran to the kid to think about it.” The baby was fortunately unharmed in the ordeal, but the car has yet to be recovered and no arrests have been made in connection with the crime. The incident is being investigated by detectives at Mountjoy garda station in Dublin.
