Man admits keeping nurse in car boot for 10 days

A man admitted yesterday that he abducted a nurse and left her tied up in the boot of a car for 10 days without food or water.

Nurse Magdeline Makola, 38, was found dehydrated and on the point of death when she was found by police locked in the boot of her own Vauxhall Astra car on Boxing Day.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, Justice Ngema, 35, from South Africa, pleaded guilty to abducting and assaulting Makola, the Press Association reported.

The nurse, from Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland, vanished after leaving work at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on December 15. Concern was raised when she failed to turn up to work three days later, and she was finally found in Airdrie, Lanarkshire.

"This is a crime that shocked people in West Lothian and across the country," said Morag McLaughlin, Area Procurator Fiscal for Lothian and Borders.

"Justice Ngema abducted Magdeline Makola, tied her up and left her in the boot of her car. Ten days later, police officers found her still locked in the boot, bound and gagged, with no food or water and fading hopes of survival."

The court heard that Mr Ngema, who was in Britain illegally having been deported in 2002, had previously appeared at his victim's home, and, on the day she was abducted, had invited himself in and asked for a drink.

Advocate-depute Alex Prentice said Ms Makola, who was born in South Africa, was threatened with a knife, punched in the head, bound, and forced to hand over details of her bank cards.

Mr Ngema then used her cards to go on a shopping spree, taking trips with his girlfriend, buying champagne and visiting bars.

Meanwhile Ms Makola was bound and gagged in the boot of her own car in temperatures that fell to sub-zero. She never saw where she was but guessed she was taken to an airport, railway station and along the M8 motorway, the court heard.

She was forced to urinate in the car and began losing consciousness. When police found her on December 26 she was screaming from the pain, and had renal failure because of muscle damage and dehydration, Mr Prentice said.