Suspect reports own car stolen after farm attack

WATERVAL BOVEN – A man was arrested when he reported his own car stolen on Youth Day after it had been involved in a farm attack earlier that day. It later became apparent that the so-called owner was one of three suspects who had tied up a couple and a security guard on their farm and fled.

In the early hours of Tuesday a man woke up with a firearm pointed in his face. The intruder told him to keep quiet and cooperate. He and his two accomplices tied up the couple and a security guard whom they had overpowered to gain access to the house. However, no one was hurt.

According to Capt Willy Makokga of Waterval Boven SAPS, the men fled in a vehicle which they had parked a few hundred metres away from the house, with a flat-screen TV, an air gun, a radio and sound system, a pair of tekkies and a cellphone.

The victim managed to free himself, after which he untied his wife and the security guard and called for help from his neighbours.

Using their tablet, the victims were able to trace the stolen cellphone, thereby calculating the perpetrators’ location. The police pursued them and pulled them over near Schagen.

The suspects jumped out of the car and ran into the bush. When police searched the vehicle, they discovered all the stolen items and confiscated the car.

Later that day, a man reported his vehicle stolen at the Hazyview Police Station.

They then contacted the branch in Waterval Boven and were ordered to detain the complainant for interrogation.

The man was positively identified by police officers who saw him flee from the driver’s seat of the stolen vehicle. The victims also identified him as the suspect with the firearm and he was arrested.

He appeared in the Belfast Magistrate’s Court on Thursday. At the time of going to print the outcome was not yet known.

The other two suspects are still at large, presumably in the Hazyview area.