Northland woman's quick action solves Queensland child kidnapping case

Queensland police have acknowledged Far North woman Marie Ireland for her part in solving a Gold Coast kidnapping.

For a moment Northland woman Marie Ireland had trouble taking in what she was seeing from her bedroom window in Mudgeeraba, on Queensland's Gold Coast.

What she was witnessing, on May 11, 2018, was the kidnapping of a 12-year-old boy, who had a blanket thrown over him and was bundled into a car as he arrived home from school. Marie had just five seconds to take it all in, then contact the police.

Her actions, and her description of the car, complete with registration, enabled the police to declare an amber alert and to locate the vehicle just an hour or two later.

The boy was released, physically unharmed, the following day, three hours away from his
home.

Marie's response has now been acknowledged with a Queensland Police Assistant Commissioner's certificate of appreciation, which was presented to her in Kaitaia by Northland District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill.

She still didn't know what made her look up as she sat on her bed writing. But whatever it was, the youngster had no doubt that she had saved his life.

He had been too traumatised to meet her when it was all over, but wrote to her, thanking her for doing exactly that.

It was only after she saw what was happening that she heard two screams from the boy, although her attention was totally focused on reciting the car's registration to herself over and over again, so she could give it to the police.

"I was just in the right place at the right time," she said.

She had the presence of mind not to put her head out the window, in case the
kidnapper saw her and realised there was a witness.

The offender was duly arrested, but he pleaded guilty, and Marie's evidence wasn't needed.

Marie was in Australia for around 18 months, helping her brother Brian with his trailer home business, but now she's back home at Waiharara, working on parents Vern and Rosie Ireland's dairy farm and still writing. She was working on a screenplay, which has attracted praise in Hollywood, while in Australia, and is now turning it into a novel.

It was a fantasy adventure story, she said, with a strong spiritual element, aimed at helping young readers understand themselves and find purpose in life, as well as showing parents how they can help rather than harm their children.

She still plans to find a way of making the film one day, but in the meantime hopes to follow brother Brian, who has just released a sci-fi novel depicting the end of the world, as a published author.

Any kidnapping scenes should be thoroughly convincing.