The brother of freed nurse Magdeline Makola said yesterday he never once doubted that she would be found alive as the pair had an emotional reunion.(With Video)

The brother of freed nurse Magdeline Makola said yesterday he never once doubted that she would be found alive as the pair had an emotional reunion.

Refilwe Makola's sister laughed in delight and hugged him when he arrived to see her in a Scottish hospital where she is recovering after being found in the boot of her car.

He said she chatted happily and appeared to have recuperated extremely well since being discovered, suffering from dehydration and hypothermia, on Boxing Day after an alleged abduction.

Yesterday after flying into Scotland from South Africa, where the family are from, he spoke out about his "strong" older sister's terrifying ordeal and their parents' tears of relief upon learning that she had not been murdered.

Describing the moment that his sister saw him, Mr Makola, 35, smiled and gestured as he said: "She just laughed and opened her hands to hug me. Then she started asking how is everyone at home, how did you travel? She ended up being concerned about me and how I had travelled here instead of me being concerned about her!

"I am just happy to see her and to be with her. She was excited to see me, she is very strong. She can talk and laugh, she is doing very well."

He also described the agonising wait for news which he and their tight-knit Christian family endured in South Africa after Ms Makola, 38, disappeared from her Livingston home for almost two weeks over Christmas.

He said: "It was very difficult for the family because we were very far from Magdeline and we could not come immediately to Scotland because of the flight schedules. For the first few minutes after learning that she had vanished we just couldn't believe it, we thought she must have gone somewhere without letting anyone know. But knowing her from childhood she is not the kind of person to do that."

But while their mother wrestled constantly with the fear that she was dead, he remained convinced that she would survive.

He said: "I had a strong instinct that Magdeline was alive, I never doubted that she was alive. I'm very close to her."

Paying tribute to his sister's character, he said that while she was a very quiet, private person she also "loved a challenge".

She had been very excited when she moved to Scotland after applying to work as a nurse in around 2000.

Work was a key part of her life, he added, saying that most people only knew her through her job at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary (ERI) or the baptist church which she attended in Livingston.

The family have drawn strength from the support of the congregation there and churchgoers in South Africa, who had been praying for her safe return.

He said: "We are a Christian family and we always prayed together. Churches were coming to our house and giving us help and support, praying and telling us don't worry, Magdeline will be found. That kept us going."

He also thanked police who found Ms Makola in Airdrie in her night clothes in the boot of her car on Boxing Day. Officers believe she may have been there for up to 10 days after she was reported missing on December 18 when she failed to turn up for her shift at the ERI. She had last been seen leaving the city hospital car park three days previously, on December 15.

The family's delight when they were told she had been found was tempered by concerns about what she had gone through.

Mr Makola said: "There was a lot of crying, a lot of hugging and kissing, but it was somehow also difficult because we were eager to know what had happened.

"But I ended up thinking it is better to concentrate on Magdeline being alive than thinking of other things."

And he revealed that he has still not asked his sister much about her ordeal because he does not want to "pressure" her.

Ms Makola was still at Monklands Hospital yesterday where her condition is now said to be "stable but improving".

A man arrested in connection with the incident appeared at Linlithgow Sheriff Court earlier this week charged with attempted murder.

Justice Ngema, 35, who is also South African and lives in Airdrie, made no plea or declaration during the hearing.

He was remanded in custody and is due to appear in court again next Tuesday.