Vehicle hijacked, civilian leads chase

A courier vehicle was hijacked and its two occupants kidnapped in Russell Street on Friday.

A member of the public, Brent Cornish, and his co-driver who wanted to remain anonymous, came across the scene of the hijacking and tried to block the road.

They were shot at, and the vehicle headed out of town with Cornish in pursuit.  He firstly phoned the police and then came into contact with Hi-Tech, relaying the information.

At some stage during the chase, Cornish said the hijackers took a loop road and shot at them again.  He said they passed police along the way and informed them of the situation, but that they were not much help.

After the encounter with the police, he said they lost the vehicle, but sent their current location to Callum mac Pherson of Hi-Tech, who was not far behind.

The vehicle was eventually pinpointed to Pienaar where Mac Pherson and Hendrik Botha of I-Secure found it. The two kidnap victims were unharmed.

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Aside from Cornish’s help, the vehicle had also been located using its tracking device with the assistance of Bossies Community Justice.  Cornish is a contractor and said he acted in the moment because that is just how he is.

“If people are in need, I go.” He said he did not think the hijackers were using live ammunition, because neither them nor their vehicle were hit.

“Either that, or God intervened.” 

“My wife was not very impressed with my actions, but my son reckoned I was having all the fun.”
All security companies were thanked for their involvement as it had been a collective effort by the Lowveld Joint Operation Command.