‘I was shot, stripped naked, and left for dead’: Miraculous survival story of man kidnapped and shot TWICE in remote bushland
- Joshua Dempsey, 33, recounts his harrowing ordeal of being kidnapped, shot twice, and left to die in a remote national park
- Dempsey used vines as tourniquets to stem the bleeding and fought off a wild wombat that attacked him while he lay helpless
- Three people have been charged in connection with the alleged kidnapping and shooting, with police yet to reveal a motive
In a shocking and dramatic tale of survival, Joshua Dempsey has revealed the astonishing details of how he survived five hours in the bush after being kidnapped, shot twice, and left for dead. The 33-year-old was allegedly abducted from a home in Port Macquarie on NSW’s mid-north coast before being driven 30km into the dense Bago Bluff National Park, where he was stripped naked and brutally shot.
“I was ordered out of the car and made to strip naked,” Dempsey recalled in an exclusive interview. “I looked around, but it was too dark to see. It would have been pitch black if not for the cars’ headlights. I just knew I was in the bush.”
The first bullet tore through his leg, causing massive blood loss, and Dempsey hit the ground. He was then shot again, with the second bullet ripping through his left arm. “Next thing I know, they are all gone, and I am there with blood all over me, bleeding to death,” Dempsey said.
Alone, naked, and bleeding profusely under a starless sky, Dempsey was confronted with the grim reality of his situation. He had lost an estimated four units of blood – more than half his body’s total volume. “I wasn’t really in pain because of the shock and adrenaline,” he said. “I ended up just lying there for five minutes, in shock. Nothing had really registered.”
As the night wore on, Dempsey’s desperate fight for survival intensified. He used vines to create tourniquets to stem the bleeding, and in a heart-stopping moment, he fought off a wild wombat that attacked him while he lay helpless. “I tried to get a look at my attacker as I summoned all of my strength to punch at it,” Dempsey said. “I remember thinking, ‘No way, I’ve been shot twice, but I am going to die by being eaten alive.'”