A Mossel Bay resident says a video camera on her dashboard, and the fact that she uses the services of a vehicle tracking company, saved her from being robbed. She did however have to suffer the trauma of being held at knifepoint.

With two robbers in her car, she pressed her emergency tracker button and her three cellphones all started ringing. One phone is for personal calls and the other two for her two businesses.

She told the men that people were calling her because she had pressed the button and that they could see her location via GPS. She also pointed out that her dashcam was filming everything.

Gave everything back

After having gone through her vehicle and taken all they wanted, the men immediately gave everything back to her and allowed her to drive away from the scene.

The woman says that one of the criminals told her: “I have to get my next fix. I am addicted to drugs.”

The incident took place at about 15:00 on Good Friday, April 15.

She is a driver for a national online taxi booking company but has since decided to quit her taxi work.

Online, one can see the vehicle she drives and her profile picture. She says the person who had called for the taxi, immediately walked towards her as she came to the location.

The person had 150 five-star ratings according to the taxi company. The moment she was held at knifepoint the taxi app noted: “Driver cancelled.”

Street name

She says that as she came to fetch him, the street was listed as No Name Street and claims the taxi company is refusing to disclose the passenger’s identity.

The woman does not know the street name, but she says it will be evident to the tracking company she uses.

She says: “There was no escape. A lot of people were standing around. About 100m from me were the police [in the van].”

The woman says she asked two police officers the van: “Did you see what just happened? Can you try arrest him?” She claims they did not assist her and drove off.

She drove to the closest police station, Da Gamaskop in D’Almeida, Mossel Bay, about three to four kilometres from the crime scene.

When she got to the police station she asked if the officers she saw were members there, but she was told that only two officers were on duty and they were there at the station, not out patrolling.

She insisted that she be given something in print and was given an incident number. “The time stamp is 4.17pm,” the woman says.

The woman, who is new to Mossel Bay and does not know the roads yet, says she decided to work as a driver because her research had shown her there was a need for drivers with vehicles who could transport people in wheelchairs.

Hence she bought a wheelchair-friendly vehicle. She had owned beauty businesses previously, but they had been badly affected by Covid-19 restrictions.

Police comment

The Mossel Bay Advertiser asked police spokesperson, Warrant Officer Kappie Kapp, for comment on the attempted robbery.

He says the police were concerned that a taxi e-hailing system was being used by criminals to exploit members of public. Regarding the victim, Kapp says: “It’s good that she stayed calm.”

Kapp says the police encouraged people using online taxi services in future to  ‘make sure they understand their surroundings, make contact with the local police stations and get to know the police and the surroundings’.

“Any person who has a problem with service delivery can contact the commander of the three police stations in Mossel Bay, Colonel Masakala at DaGamaskop on 044 606 2200, Lieutenant-Colonel Julius at KwaNonqaba Police Station on 044 606 5606 or 044 606 5600 and Lieutenant-Colonel September at Mossel Bay Police Station on 044 606 2800.

“People can go to any one of these if they feel they don’t get service. There is an open-door policy and processes can be followed,” says Kapp.