'I thought I was going to die': Terrified mum chased by alleged 'carjacker gang'

A terrified Melbourne mother of four has told of being allegedly carjacked by a car full of African men in the early hours of Thursday morning.

She said she thought she was going to die after allegedly being chased down by the gang.

When beauty therapist Danielle Hazan’s King Charles Cavalier, Bailey, was hungry just after midnight she said she went to buy dog food at her local 7-Eleven.

Then she decided to take a quick bay-side drive.

“[I] noticed that a car did a U-turn and was following me,” she said.

She claimed the carload of young men in a green Holden station wagon was behind her for minutes before the 42-year-old said she pulled down a side street in Brighton about 1am, and ran into a random house for help.

“I didn’t make it to the door,” Danielle said.

“These four guys just, yeah, three jumped out of a car and ran and in seconds grabbed me by the head, pulled me back, punched me in the face and just yelling for the keys.”

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One of the men snatched them from her, plus a diamond ring off her finger.

“I remember yelling at him “please can I have my house keys” and he yanked the car keys off and threw my keys across the street under a car,” she said.

Five minutes up the road in Elwood the alleged carjackers crashed into another driver, a 55-year-old woman.

Danielle said her alleged attackers' faces were covered by bandanas but suspected they were about 18, tall, of African appearance with Australian accents.

“I though they were going to kill me,” she said.

“I was petrified, so scared. I have never been so scared in my life.”