Mother speaks of ATM bombing ordeal
A mother speaks out about her ordeal when her and her family were caught in between a robbery when an ATM was bombed at a petrol station in Orchards.
A mother and her eight-month-old baby have been caught in the midst of an ATM bombing in the north of Pretoria.
This happened when about eight gun-wielding men arrived in a Toyota Quantum at an Engen fuel station on Sunday.
Nombulelo Kubheka (34), her husband and their baby had been at the fuel station on Hulton Road, Orchards, to fill up their vehicle.
She stepped out of the car to draw money, leaving her husband and baby inside the car.
“I realised the ATM I was using was out of order so a petrol attendant said I should use the one inside the shop. I probably took about two steps when I heard people screaming and I saw armed men,” she said.
“One of them pointed a gun at me and told me to go inside the security room along with other petrol attendants.”
Moments later, Kubheka said she noticed one of the armed men approaching her husband in the car.
The men, dressed in a hat and a bandana over their faces, ordered him to switch off the engine and to get out of the car.
“My husband was ordered into the room with us but they left our baby in the car. I told one of the men that I wanted to get my baby. He told me to calm down and said they were not here for us but for the money.”
She said she heard a loud bang shortly after, and rubbish flying through the shop’s door.
In a panic, Kubheka again asked to get her baby from the car.
“The robber then went to the car and brought us our son. He then told his accomplices: ‘Let’s go, we are done’. They drove off in a white Quantum.”
She said after the ordeal, she noticed a man bleeding from the abdomen.
Amandasig action group’s operations manager, Erich Landsberg, said the manager of the store was shot in the stomach.
“The manager, who is the owner’s son, was shot three times in the stomach and was taken to hospital via ambulance.”
Owner Steven MacDougall said his 24-year-old son was in ICU but stable.
Landsberg said the robbers had also fled with the fuel station’s CCTV footage.
“They also took an undisclosed amount of money and a lot of cigarettes.”
This was the third ATM bombing in the north the past week.
A group of five men also bombed an ATM at a Total garage in Rosslyn on 1 November.
Police spokesperson Captain Riana van Aarde said police were investigating a possible syndicate.
“People need to be careful when they are at petrol stations as these men seem to be extremely prepared and professional.”
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