Boy (6) shields baby sister with his body during attempted hijacking downtown

Every day lives are endangered because of criminals who will do anything to steal your valuables.

Hester Boshoff (50) and Bernadine Brits (29) say they still can’t believe how lucky they were to not have been injured or killed after having survived an attempted hijacking in the Central Business District on Tuesday, January 7.

Hester, who was driving her white Landrover, stopped in Walter Sisulu Street at a traffic light.

Before they realized what was happening, the vehicle was surrounded by five men.

One of the men pushed his hand through a small opening in the driver side window and grabbed Boshoff’s radio’s remote control, which looked quite a bit like a cellphone, which is likely why the attackers tried to grab it.

Shortly after realizing that the remote control was not a cellphone, one of the suspects put his hand through the window again and unlocked the vehicle from inside.

Boshoff and Brits had to fight back because six-year-old Jayden Brits and his sister Janeske Brits (three weeks old) were seated at the back of the car. Jayden’s first reaction was to lie over his baby sister, Janeske to protect her. She was sitting in her car chair.

The suspects scrambled to search for handbags or loose goods under the car’s seats.

While they were doing this, Jayden spotted the police in their vehicle.

Police happened to be patrolling the central business district at the time of the incident.

The police realized what was happening and rushed to the family to help.

The officers managed to arrest four of the five suspects.

“I couldn’t imagine where I got the strength to keep the attackers away from us. If it wasn’t for the police, I don’t know what else would have happened. I would also like to thank the police for the professional manner in which they handled the case and helped us,” said Boshoff.

No injuries were sustained during the incident and no goods were damaged or stolen.