Kidnapped, beaten and shot during hijacking

It was an ordinary evening when a 41-year-old man, who would like to remain anonymous, was called to the gate of his house in Extension 10 by three unknown men.

He walked to his gate to assist the men who had called him closer to ask him something. He could never have thought that simply walking to his gate to help people would be the start of his nightmare ordeal.

At around 19:30 on Thursday, May 16, the man was allegedly forced at gunpoint to open his gate by the three men.

After he opened the gate, the men allegedly forced him onto the ground and began searching his pockets and found his car keys.

This is when the three assailants allegedly threw the man into his vehicle, a white Toyota Urban Cruiser, and drove off with him.

According to the victim, the men beat him up inside his vehicle and threatened to shoot him if he looked at them. He told police they kept on demanding money from him, but they knew he had nothing more in his pockets or with him. They allegedly drove around with him for over an hour before taking him to an unknown house.

“I was so scared. They kept on threatening to kill me. The men were speaking Shangani to each other. I didn’t think I was going to see my family again. I knew when they stopped at the house that they were going to keep me there for money and possibly kill me. I knew I had to run for my life,” said the victim.

The victim jumped from his vehicle and started running. This was when he felt a sharp pain in his leg and fell to the ground. Shortly after he fell, his vehicle came speeding past him.

The man was scared the suspects were going to come back and finish him off. He quickly crawled closer to the road and flagged down a police van that drove past.

An ambulance was called, and he was taken to hospital.

“I am so thankful my family was not home at the time. This has been very difficult, and I am in a lot of pain. It is not easy for my children to see their father struggling. This is also affecting my work, as I can’t really take time off. I have projects that I am running. I thought they were going to kill me when they took me. I am just thankful that I survived this and that they didn’t kill me,” the victim told WITBANK NEWS.

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