Woman (67) assaulted by motorist in parking area at Festival Mall
'When I didn't want to give him my phone, he slapped me through the window'
A 67-year-old Kempton resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, was assaulted in a parking area at Festival Mall.
According to the woman, who has a serious knee injury, the man who assaulted her was parked in a disabled parking she wanted to use.
“I was on my way to Old Mutual to sort out everything for my knee operation when the incident happened. I wanted to park as close as possible to the entrance because I can barely walk,” said the resident.
“The man with his Audi turned in front of me and parked in the spot I wanted to use. I rolled down the window and very nicely asked the woman who got out of the car if they could park somewhere else because I had an injury and could not walk very far. She told me to f**k off or… ”
When the resident took out her phone to take a photo of the car to report the incident, the male driver ran to her window and demanded the photo be deleted.
“I immediately tucked my phone under my leg and the next moment the man hit me on my arm through the open window. It was absolutely horrible.”
The woman drove away and parked far from the entrance.
“I was in so much pain and out of breath. When I eventually reached the entrance the man was still standing at his car waiting for me.”
The man made a huge scene, according to the resident, and still yelled at her to delete the photo.
“Eventually I just walked away from him and struggled with my walking stick to get up the little stairs.”
The resident added that 30 minutes later when she was done at Old Mutual, the man’s car was still parked in the same spot.
“We regret that the incident was not reported to centre management by the complainant. We will investigate this matter,” said Festival Mall marketing manager Lee-Anne Leathley.
“Festival Mall would like to use this opportunity to encourage all shoppers to report incidents to centre management immediately.”
