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Aussie grandma allegedly carjacked at knifepoint in busy car park

A 74-year-old woman has revealed how she was held up at knifepoint during an alleged carjacking in a Melbourne shopping centre car park.

Mary Tetradi says she was loading groceries into her car at Frankston Bayside Centre at around 4.30pm on Tuesday afternoon when a man climbed into the passenger seat and demanded that she drive.

“He had the knife at the beginning here and then up there,” she told 7News while pointing to her neck. “But two centimetres away from my throat.”

Mary Tetradi.
Mary Tetradi, 74, says the carjacker held a knife 'two centimetres away' from her throat. Source: Seven News

The offender then allegedly forced the pensioner to drive for half an hour before dropping her off, uninjured, at a service station on Forest Drive in Frankston North before making off in her vehicle.

“He was really annoyed that I was not upset,” the brave grandmother said.

Without her handbag, phone or keys, Ms Tetradi then walked to a nearby mechanic to call for help.

Carjacker crime spree

The grandmother’s stolen vehicle was found an hour and a half later, just seven kilometres from where she was told to get out, after police received reports that the driver had crashed into a pole on Frankston-Dandenong Road and run off.

At around 7.30pm, the same offender armed with a knife is alleged to have held up a man on Belvedere Road in Seaford before taking off in his white Toyota Camry sedan.

By 11pm, police had spotted the vehicle near Beach Street. Officers tried to intercept the driver but say he failed to pull over.

The alleged carjacker being arrested.
With the help of the dog squad, the man was eventually arrested just after midnight. Source: Seven News

With the assistance of the Air Wing, stop sticks were successfully deployed on Parer Street forcing the alleged offender to eventually come to a stop on Allawah Avenue just after midnight.

“By the time he got here he was running on the rims, the tyres had been completely shredded,” witness Terry Hope told 7News. “It was lucky that no one was killed.”

While the man took off on foot, he was soon found by the Dog Squad and arrested. The 30-year-old from Carrum Downs was taken to hospital under police guard.

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