Family want answers after naked patient hijacks staff member

A week after a staff member was hijacked outside the Dundee Hospital, the family of the victim is still waiting for answers from police and hospital management.

Judy Sayed, who has worked for over 24 years at the hospital, was preparing to get into her vehicle last Monday evening, when she felt someone come up behind her, pressing a piece of glass to her throat. The woman, who was stark naked, except for a handbag, asked Mrs Sayed what she valued more, her car or her life. She then stole the vehicle, leaving a stunned Mrs Sayed behind as she sped off towards the exit. Despite generally strict security measures in place at the hospital, the woman was allowed to leave without the car being stopped or searched. It is believed that the woman was let out by staff after she smashed a window and obtained the glass shard from Ward 3. No nurses or doctors tried to stop her or check where she had gone.

Negligence by hospital security isn’t the only thing that has gotten the family up in arms. Immediately after the incident, hospital management went to the police station to try and stop a case being opened. According to the Sayed family, their mother wasn’t seen to or assisted by hospital staff or management and police only dealt with the matter three hours later. Police also failed to open a criminal case, only opening an enquiry.
The vehicle, badly damaged, was later found in the Tugela Ferry area and police took it to the Msinga Police Station. However, details are unclear as to where the vehicle was originally found and how and why it was damaged. Questions were also raised regarding Mrs Sayed’s valuables which were in the vehicle when it was stolen.

Originally the Police’s Investigating Officer, who went out to Msinga, told the family that the valuables were in the vehicle. However, when they went out there to fetch their belongings, police reportedly chased them away, telling them that they could not tamper with the vehicle as fingerprints still had to be taken.

The cellphones were smashed and their sim cards and batteries taken out. The family has also questioned why police are so reluctant to deal with the matter.

A case was only opened last week Thursday, after pressure from Dundee Station Commissioner, Colonel Nyide, and the vehicle was only brought back to Dundee on Friday, five days after the incident.
The patient was brought back to Dundee Hospital before being moved to Madadeni. At this stage, it is unclear whether police have spoken to her.

Sbonelo Dube, spokesperson for the Dundee Hospital, was contacted for comment and promised that one would be provided after the hospital management discussed the matter in an executive committee meeting.