Two men have been charged after a woman was allegedly beaten and stabbed by an African gang during a home invasion in Brisbane’s south.
Police arrested four men in Stafford Heights in the north of the city just after 3.30pm on Friday, after a woman, 43, was allegedly kidnapped from a home in Doolandella by a group of men and assaulted before being driven to another property in Forest Lake hours earlier.
That suburb is just kilometres from where Australian grandmother Vyleen White, 70, was allegedly murdered by a Sudanese refugee, 16, for her 2009 Hyundai Getz while her granddaughter, 6, watched in horror.
On Saturday morning police said two men had been released while two other aged 20 and 18 had been charged with a raft of offences and were remanded in custody to appear before Brisbane Magistrate’s Court.
They were each charged with one count each of kidnapping, extortion, torture, assault occasioning bodily harm whilst armed, armed robbery, dangerous conduct with a weapon, possess shortened firearms, enter dwelling with intent, enter dwelling with intent whilst armed, and wilful damage.
Witnesses in Forest Lake told the Courier Mail they saw four black-clad men in balaclavas, one armed with a gun, pull up to the home in a white Audi and force a woman into the house where it is believed they allegedly demanded money and beat the alleged victim in the face with the handle of a machete.
Blood could be seen smeared on the entry to the home where witnesses said the woman tried to grab onto a pillar to prevent herself being dragged inside.
“We saw the young woman come out on the stretcher, she had several blows to her face, cuts and bruises it was awful,” said one witness.
Neighbours of the Stafford Heights property said the home was lived in by a refugee single mum.
