But what appeared to be a random attack was something more sinister, after the man who threw the object, Kevin Thomas Duncan, lured the driver into chasing him through the nearby housing commission complex before losing him, doubling back and carjacking the man's girlfriend.

Duncan had, only an hour earlier, broken into a home in Darby Street and stolen handbags, wallets, phones, money, keys and a bottle of spirits.

And then, with those stolen items tucked under his arm, he walked down the road, stood outside the housing commission complex on Darby Street and threw an object at a passing Mercedes.

The female passenger later told police she saw someone throw the object and felt it hit just below her window.

"Pull over we need to see if its dented," she told her boyfriend, who turned around and drove back towards where the man had thrown the object.

"That's the guy," the woman said, pointing at Duncan, and the man pulled over and got out of his car.

"Why did you throw something at my car?" the man yelled out to Duncan, who responded by swearing and yelling.

The man then began walking towards Duncan, who started moving towards the unit block.

When the man started running, Duncan ran away from him and the chase was on through the commission flats.

At one stage the man saw Duncan drop two handbags and stopped to pick them up. He handed the bags to two women standing outside their unit and told them he was going to wait for police.

But Duncan had doubled back and returned to Darby Street where he confronted the woman, who was now sitting in the driver's seat.

The woman tried to lock the doors and windows, but Duncan reached through the driver's side window, grabbed the door handle and opened the door before she could lock it.

Duncan tried to pull the woman out of the car and then push her across into the passenger seat while "foaming at the mouth" and screaming "get out of the car", according to an agreed statement of facts.

But when the car started slowly rolling forward, the woman jumped out and Duncan accelerated away.

But he didn't leave the scene. First, Duncan drove to the area where he had dropped the handbags and barked at a woman: "where are my f---ing bags".

Police later arrested Duncan, found the stolen car key and uncovered a cigarette with his DNA on it in the back seat of the Mercedes.