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Man guilty of car boot abduction | Man guilty of car boot abduction |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A man has admitted abducting a nurse and leaving her tied up and locked in the boot of a car for up to 10 days. | |
Magdeline Makola, 38, of Livingston in West Lothian, was found dehydrated and suffering from hypothermia in the boot of her own car on 26 December. | |
Justice Ngema, 35, who is originally from South Africa, pleaded guilty at the High Court in Edinburgh. | |
Ngema, who had only met the victim briefly before the attack, is due to be sentenced on 21 July. | |
Concerns for Ms Makola had first been raised when she failed to turn up for work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 15 December. | |
An investigation was launched and the South African-born nurse was discovered by police in a red Vauxhall Astra in the town of Airdrie, Lanarkshire. | |
Magdeline Makola arrived at court to hear the guilty plea | |
Her brother Refilwe Makola, 35, flew from his home in South Africa to be with his sister while she was being treated in hospital. | Her brother Refilwe Makola, 35, flew from his home in South Africa to be with his sister while she was being treated in hospital. |
Ms Makola was in court to hear the guilty plea. | |
Det Insp Alan Sommerville, of Lothian and Borders Police, said Ms Makola was in her house when Ngema appeared saying he was cold and thirsty so she let him in and gave him a drink. | |
She had only met him briefly several years previously after being introduced through a friend as a fellow South African. | |
Det Insp Sommerville told BBC Scotland that soon after Ngema had attacked her. | |
He then blindfolded, bound and gagged her "very tightly". | |
He said: "There was no way she could escape, she was very, very tightly bound and gagged." | |
He put her in the back seat of her car before driving off. She struggled and in trying to free herself set of the car alarm so he put her in the boot. | |
Magdeline Makola was locked inside the boot of a Vauxhall Astra | |
Det Insp Sommerville said: "She was in a lot of pain when we found her and in real distress. | |
"We had to very slowly remove the bindings, she was very dehydrated and had mild frostbite to her toes." | |
He added: "Ngema would appear to be a difficult, strange person and motive-wise we can only find pure greed. | |
"He is a South African national who has never really held down a steady job while he has lived in the UK and instead he has taken advantage of people and scrounged along the way. | |
"This has been a horrific crime and what he did to to her is appalling." | |
He added how he believed Ms Makola got through her ordeal by her strong faith as she kept praying. |