Two men who were hijacked in the GMM area, caution motorists to be vigilant
Ngubeni said many highjacking victims are coming forward to open cases against those suspects.
Two victims of hijackings are warning other motorists to be vigilant.
The victim, who wants to remain anonymous, was hijacked last month and does not want others to go through a similar ordeal.
This court interpreter was on his way from work that afternoon, driving towards the T-junction near Kriel when his vehicle was slightly bumped from behind.
He pulled off the road to check the extent of the damage. The driver of the car also alighted and pretended to be apologetic.
“I realised that he was not alone in his car. The other people alighted and went around my car while I was checking if my car was damaged.
“It was around 18:00 and darkness was setting in so I could not see that those people were already behind me. I just suddenly felt a rope around my neck. I was being strangled and assaulted.
“The driver also assaulted me. They then tied me with the rope and drove with me in my car to Gauteng. I was dumped in the bushes with my hands and feet still bound,” said the victim.
He managed to untie himself and ran to a nearby industrial area where he was assisted by a security officer to phone the police and the car tracking company.
He said luckily the tracking company found his car in Gauteng the same day.
He now cautions motorists to be vigilant as hijackings have become a problem around the Govan Mbeki Municipality.
Another victim who is a prosecutor in one of the local courts was also hijacked in Kinross when he picked up hitchhikers.
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He finished work and was at the main intersection in Kinross when he saw three men hitchhiking in the rain.
He felt pity for them and offered them a lift to Leandra, but along the way, they strangled him with a rope and took his car. He was also dumped in Gauteng.
Two suspects will soon appear before the Evander Magistrate’s Court for hijacking. The Leandra police arrested them on the road between Eendracht and Nigel last month.
According to the Leandra police spokesperson, Constable Nontobeko Ngubeni, the victim alleged he was on his way to Devon when three men hijacked him in Leandra.
He picked them up in his double cab bakkie in Leandra and while on the road, he was strangled with a rope and was pulled to the backseat of his bakkie where he was beaten up.
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The victim’s hands were tied behind his back while one of the suspects pinned him and held down his head by stepping on his neck.
Ngubeni said the victim alleges that the suspects also demanded money. They stole all his belongings, including R1 150 in cash, and then demanded R3 500 to let him go.
The hijackers asked the victim if his vehicle had a tracking device and if he had insurance on the vehicle, to which he replied that he had none.
The suspects’ arrest came after another alleged victim spotted them in Leandra one day as they were hitchhiking from Leandra to Nigel.
This person informed the police that he saw the men get into a double cab bakkie. The police followed them and spotted the bakkie parked on the side of the road.
One of the suspects managed to escape, but the police arrested the other two. These two were charged with hijacking, robbery and kidnapping.
Ngubeni said many hijacking victims are coming forward to open cases against these suspects.
