An 18-year-old pilot and his father were robbed by three armed men shortly after they had stopped to change their car tyre on the N1 south near the Botha Avenue offramp.
Gert Van Rooyen (50), an Eldoraigne resident, received a call from his son on Wednesday evening, asking for help as his tyre had burst. “He was coming home from the Wonderboom Airport and his tyre burst. He asked me to come and help him. As I arrived, I found he had already changed his tyre. I had just put the burst tyre in my car when suddenly three men came out of nowhere, each of them carrying a gun,” he said.
Van Rooyen said the men pointed the guns to their heads and instructed them to get on the ground. “My son laid his head on the ground but I kept my head up as I was looking around. As I tried to move my wallet from my back pocket into my jacket, one of the men noticed and demanded I give him my wallet, cell phone and all my belongings,” he said.
The robbers fled with their wallets, an iPhone, two Blackberry cell phones and a pilot bag. “They took my son’s pilot bag which had his pilot licence and headsets. They then fled by foot and ran up the hill next to the highway. However, they did not take our cars, even though my car keys were still in the ignition,” said Van Rooyen.
Van Rooyen warned motorists to avoid stopping on the freeway. “It is better to worry about a R3 000 tyre than R30 000 of stolen valuables.”
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