'He was so brave': Mum-of-two relives the moment she answered the door to find a shivering little boy who endured a 10-hour ordeal when a thief stole his mum's car while he slept in the back seat
A mother-of-two has relived the heart-stopping moment a shivering seven-year-old boy knocked on her front door for help after being kidnapped by a car thief while he slept in his mum's Mitsubishi Pajero.
Joseph Eaton was asleep inside his family's car when a man jumped in the driver's seat and sped off from outside their home on Napier Street in Morley, Perth at about 8.40pm on Saturday.
Joseph's mum Rose Hsieh had left the keys in the ignition and the engine running as she helped her youngest son Ben inside following a day trip to Lancelin.
But within moments, the car and her eldest son were gone.
Joseph's mum Rose Hsieh had left the keys in the ignition and the engine running as she helped her youngest son Ben inside following a day trip to Lancelin
Police released CCTV footage showing a man who is believed to have stolen Ms Hsieh's Mitsubishi Pajero
At about 5.45am the following morning, Joseph awoke in the car's backseat, parked in the front yard of a home in Forrestfield - 20km from Morley.
Joseph, shaking and confused, knocked on the door of the nearest house.
A mother-of-two young boys, who asked not to be named, said she heard a 'soft knock' at her front door before finding the confused child.
'As a mum seeing that - it's your worst nightmare. He's so brave to knock on a stranger's door. He said "I'm lost, I don't know where I am",' the mother told The West Australian.
While waiting for police to arrive to the woman's Northumberland Road home, Joseph played with the woman's two young sons.
Joseph said the car thief didn't speak with him, and only looked back once while driving along the highway.
'I saw the driver. I stayed in the car until they parked it. Then I knocked on somebody's door. They didn't come the first time so I came in the morning and then they answered,' he said.
Ten hours after the terrifying ordeal began, Joseph was reunited with his mother at Mirrabooka police station.
Ms Hsieh remembers hearing a loud noise outside while she tended to her youngest son, who was vomiting from car sickness.
Police will carry out extensive forensic tests on the car before it is returned to the family. Pictured: Officers combing the Morley area after Joseph went missing
She then ran outside and noticed her car had disappeared.
Neighbours heard Ms Hsieh's screams and the sound of the car revving as it sped off.
Police will carry out extensive forensic tests on the car before it is returned to the family, and are still hunting for the car thief who remains at large, and his alleged accomplice.
CCTV footage from outside the family's home has provided a valuable lead, showing a hooded man walking along the street and then moments later the family's Pajero driving away.
Detectives would like to speak with anyone who may have seen a Mitsubishi Pajero Sports area about 8.30pm on Saturday night, or in the Forrestfield area about 5am Sunday morning.