The young woman in her white BMW was looking forward to relaxing at home after a hard day’s work and had just driven into her yard in KwaThema when three men armed with hand guns accosted her, demanding her vehicle.
After being lightly pistol-whipped on her head a few times, the men dragged her into her BMW sedan and sped off into the night. The incident happened on Monday night last week around 7.30pm.
“The harrowing experience for the victim continued as she was threatened with death and forced to lie face down in the vehicle as the suspects were driving around in her car,” EMPD spokesperson Wilfred Kgasago said.
Kgasago added that the victim was held hostage in a bushy area in Esselen Park while the suspects were attempting to locate the tracker unit in the vehicle with the aim of removing it.
“Apparently, after a lengthy two hours without locating the unit in the vehicle, the victim was released. She dashed into one of the nearby residential houses to seek help, where the police were called and the vehicle tracking system activated,” Kgasago explained.
The hijacked vehicle’s movements were picked up via the GPS coordinates by the Tembisa precinct commander, Chief Superintendent Bheki Nhlapo. Tshwane Metro Police K9 Unit members, as well as the EMPD acting chief of police, Isaac Mapiyeye, joined the search.
The signal indicated that the hijacked BMW had been driven around Tembisa and Esselen Park before the driver headed to Olievenhoutbosch in the direction of Centurion, where it was located.
When the police approached the hijacked vehicle around 9.30pm in Olievenhoutbosch, five occupants abandoned the car and fled on foot after firing several shots at the metro police.
The suspects evaded arrest and are still at large. Fortunately, nobody was hurt during the gunfire. The recovered BMW was found with minimal damage.
The victim’s relatives picked her up at Ivory Park Police Station and were escorted by EMPD officers to KwaThema.
