TWO teenage girls returning from the movies were caught in the middle of an armed hijacking, in Van Riebeeck Park, on Friday night.
The hijacking occurred when the one girl’s father stopped at her friend’s house on Rustig Avenue East to drop off the friend at about 8.30pm.
The mother of the girl at whose house the incident occurred, saw an article published by EXPRESS yesterday about a couple who had witnessed the incident. She decided to come forward and talk about the horrifying experience they went through.
She asked to remain anonymous.
Also read:
• Couple witnesses hijacking in Van Riebeeck Park
According to her, the three men apparently planned a house robbery and expected the vehicle, driven by the other girl’s father, would pull inside.
“We only realised this when the police found cable ties and tape at the passenger side of the robbers’ vehicle,” she explained.
What happened?
“My daughter and her friend, both in Grade 10, went to movies at Greenstone,” she said.
”My daughter’s friend’s dad dropped my daughter off at our house. As they parked in my driveway, I opened my gate a small bit, to walk through to get my daughter. I was talking to my daughter’s friend’s dad with my daughter on my right side.
“The BMW approached us slowly from Laerskool Van Riebeeck Park’s side. I watched if the vehicle would turn into De Villiers Street or not, because it was unknown to me. With all the current incidents in our area, we are alert to criminal activity.
“The minute it crossed De Villiers Street I knew something was wrong. I pushed my daughter through the gate and closed it with my remote. She ran inside to her dad and raised the alarm.
”The moment the first robber jumped out of the BMW with his firearm, I hid behind a palm tree on our pavement.
“The dad reversed, but they tried to block him. He reversed into them and then went forward, hitting the BMW on the driver’s side front wheel. The robbers then pointed the gun at him and instructed him to stop and think about his child, who was sitting next to him in the front. Two robbers blocked her door.
“The dad asked if they could please let his daughter go and not kill her, which they eventually did do.
”The daughter ran to her father’s side of the car, pleading for his life. They searched him for his wallet, cellphone and watch, pulled him out of the vehicle and fled the scene fast, very fast.
”They did not drive off slowly. Tyre marks on the road show how they span the hijacked vehicle. They sped off in the direction of Modderfontein.
“They never spotted me crouching behind the tree. While I was hiding there, I thought they would shoot the father and daughter. I looked down and thought it was over, they would shoot because they made too much noise.
“Seeing the car spinning away without any shots fired was a big relief. A big thank you to MML who were so quickly on the scene after my daughter had pressed the panic button.”
The hijacked car, a white i20 Hyundai, had not yet been found at the time of publishing.
