Nyiko Mabunda, a 33-year-old man from Midrand, was hijacked his BMW 520i in Sunnyside. He spent several hours in the boot of his vehicle, while listening to the hijackers as they were planning their next move.
At about 20:00, Mabunda had been sitting with a friend in his vehicle on the corner of Leyds Street and Plein Street in Sunnyside, when he was suddenly approached by three armed men. “As I was with my friend in the car, three men came to my car and started shouting ‘Voetsek! Voetsek! Voetsek!’ I initially thought it was someone I knew, or some sort of joke, until I saw them each having a gun. That is when I realised I was being hijacked,” said Mabunda.
Mabunda and his friend were pulled out of the front seats and violently thrown into the backseat of his car, before the thugs took his bank card and demanded his PIN number. “They also took my two cellphones, iPad, laptop, my ID, my driver’s licence and the spare keys to my other car. They told me they will kill me if I do not cooperate, and my friend and I had to lay on the floor of the backseat as the hijackers said we should not be seen” he said.
After driving around for a few minutes, the hijackers decided to move their victims into the boot of the vehicle. “They threw the both of us into the boot of the car. I then started to hear them talking about trying to remove the tracker from my car. They kept referring to a ‘Neo’, who could help them find and remove the tracker,” he said.
Mabunda listened in terror as the hijackers spoke about their plan of action. “I heard them speaking about going to Atteridgeville as well as Tsamaya, which is a street in Mamelodi. They also stopped somewhere where I heard them give a man my cell phone and a R1000. They told me that they are going to use my car for a heist” he said.
“Suddenly, the boot opened and we were pulled out and pushed into the boot of another vehicle. It all happened so quickly that I could not see these men, nor identify the car. What I did notice, however, is that there were now a lot more men than before. This seemed like a syndicate,” said Mabunda.
He remained in the boot of the car while the hijackers struggled to find and remove the tracker. A few hours later, Mabunda and his friend were transported and dumped in a quiet neighbourhood in Hercules at about 02:00 on Thursday morning. “We had to walk around until I managed to stop a patrolling security car. The security guard helped me by taking me to the nearest police station, where I opened a case,” he said.
Even though police managed to track the vehicle in Mamelodi, they eventually lost signal as they were doing a helicopter search. Mabunda stated that the hijackers also withdrew R6 000 from his bank account. “This morning I realised that they made two withdrawals of R3000 each,” he said.
Police are investigating a case of hijacking. “The case was opened at the Hercules Police Station and then transferred to the Sunnyside Police Station for further investigation,” said police spokesperson Captain Colette Weilbach.
“My car is gone and it is not even a year old. I am so traumatised by this experience. My friend is currently at my place in Midrand as the hijackers took the keys to his flat. I am just very grateful that we are alive,” said Mabunda.
Anyone that can assist the police with information can contact the Sunnyside Police Station on 012 422 3650 or on Crime Stop at 08600 10111.
