On May 26, the same fateful day a Petit couple were shot dead on the Putfontein bridge, Alberton resident Tomas Mans and a female friend were travelling along the N12 when their vehicle broke down at around noon, resulting in them being robbed at gunpoint.
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“We were travelling from Kempton Park to my home for a family function,” explained Mans who was driving the vehicle on the day.
“We were nearing the Gillooly’s interchange when my car broke down and we pulled off to the side of the road.
“I phoned a friend to come assist us and in the interim we sat in the car and waited.
“We then saw three armed men approach us; I do not even know where they came from.
“I noticed two of the men went to the passenger side and, while pointing firearms at us, the third come to my side and demanded I unlock the doors for them.
“They then proceeded to take our belongings (cellphones, wallets, laptop bag, jewellery, bank cards, IDs, licences and other valuables).
“After taking whatever they wanted, one of the men held me by the shirt and asked if we will ‘allow them to get away’.
“I cooperated and said we would not follow them.
“He let go of my shirt and before leaving they sprayed us with pepper spray.
“From what I could make out after they sprayed us they casually walked away from the scene.”
Mans said both him and his friend were lucky to get away with just being pepper sprayed.
“Apart from being pepper sprayed, there was no physical assault.
“That makes me think we were one of the luckiest groups of people in the sense that they pepper sprayed us and did not kill us.
“People need to become more aware of the dangers around them.
“My car broke down in broad daylight and it is mind-boggling how we were robbed at this time.
“These incidents are clearly beyond our control.”
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