Man traumatised after attempted hijacking
"I had a hard time getting myself together to sit down for this interview. I'm still angry and moody but I want others to know that they can fight back"
DESPITE suffering from trauma and being put on ARV treatment because of a bite sustained in a fight to ward off hijackers, a Malvern man wants the community to be vigilant about the dangers of stopping on the freeway.
In a desperate attempt to cool down his overheated car, Francois Bigaignon was forced to pull over on the side of the N2 freeway. “The car was starting to overheat because the water was draining. As I passed the squatters on the left-hand side, by the old airport, I thought I’d just carry on a little bit further because obviously that would be a dangerous place to stop,” said Bigaignon. But little did he know that he would pick the wrong spot.
“I went just passed the Higginson Highway off-ramp and the car died anyway because its gasket blew,” he said. He then got out of his car to open the bonnet to let the engine cool down faster while he was on the phone with his mother, who was in another car but took a different route. “As I was done lifting that up (the bonnet), I wanted to put my phone back in my pocket and two guys approached me from my left side, spun me around and shoved a gun into my belly and they told me they were going to take everything,” he recounted.
The men grabbed his phone and they broke into a scuffle, “…so I struggled for the phone. Then I tried to break the phone,” he added. In the attempt to break the phone, the man without the gun bit him on his forearm.
At this point, Bigaignon was hoping that the men would not see his son, who was in the car sleeping. However, from the corner of his eye, he noticed a third person going through the window and trying to take his son. “From there, I left the phone, I went after him only, I didn’t even care about the gun any more. And from that point I cannot remember anything. And I’ve tried everything,” he said.
Although his memory remains a blur, he somehow managed to keep safe until his relatives got to him.
“I had a hard time getting myself together to sit down for this interview. I’m still angry and moody but I want others to know that they can fight back,” he added.
