Kidnapper ties up children and locks them inside home

A kidnapper taped up the eyes and hands of two young children, placed them into a car boot and took them to his home where he locked them inside a room for several hours.

Jiangang Ji is facing trial by jury after pleading not guilty to assaulting a woman, and two other charges, during a kidnapping in Melbourne's east on August 23, 2021.

He has admitted to two counts of kidnapping, false imprisonment, aggravated burglary and theft of a vehicle.

Prosecutor Kristie Churchill read out a summary of agreed facts to the County Court on Friday, saying Ji drove to the family home at Blackburn North and waited outside for one hour for the woman's husband to leave for work.

He then broke into the house, holding a knife, through a side window about 6.30am.

Ji was inside the home for some time while the woman was asleep in her bedroom.

One of the first police officers to arrive at the scene said the woman initially believed Ji was her husband.

"She woke up and saw a male figure peeping through her bedroom," the officer told the jury.

"Then she realised it wasn't her husband. This person came in, restrained her and took her children."

He took keys for the Mercedes and confronted the woman, holding a knife out and pushing her to the ground.

Ji put the woman's hands behind her back and taped them together. He then bandaged her legs together, taped her mouth shut and covered her face from the neck up, Ms Churchill said.

"He intended to deprive her of her liberty against her will," the prosecutor said.

While she was restrained, he taped the hands and eyes of the two children and put them in the boot of the Mercedes, which was parked in the driveway.

Ji allegedly returned and assaulted the woman, which he denies, and then drove the car to his home in Mitcham.

He arrived just before 9am, took the children out of the boot, removed their bindings and took them to a room where he locked the door.

Ms Churchill said Ji had stolen the woman's sim card and used it to call her husband to demand a ransom for the children's safe return.

"You need $1 million," he told the man before hanging up.

He left the home at least four times while the children were inside, one one occasion for more than two hours.

Police caught him as he was trying to move the Mercedes and arrested him, finding the children in the back of the car.

The trial before Judge Gabriele Cannon will continue on Monday.