WHAT began as an evening to celebrate her husband’s birthday, turned into a nightmare for an Umbilo couple last month when they became the victims of a frightening hijacking.
Natalie Lohr is still fearful after she, her husband Shane, and 5-year-old daughter, Amber were hijacked last month but hopes others would be more cautious after hearing about their ordeal.
The family was going out for dinner and stopped at Shane’s parents home in Teignmouth Road when disaster struck.
“We were just getting out the car. They were expecting us so as we hooted for them to open the gate. My father-in-law walked out to open the gates and I had just got out and walked around to get Amber out, but before I got to the door, three men came out of nowhere.
“I’m usually so cautious and aware of our surroundings so was taken by complete surprise. One of them pointed a gun at me and another held a gun to my husband.
“He asked my husband for the keys and I shouted that my daughter was in the car. The one with a gun pointed at me said I must leave her!”
“There was absolutely no way I was going to let them go with my child!” Desperate to save her young daughter, Natalie pushed, shoved and fought to reach Amber and managed to pull her out the car by her hair just as the car sped off.
“It is amazing how God work’s because He was there!” Natalie said smiling, “My baby Daniel was thankfully with my mum or would also have been in a car seat and I don’t know how we would have got them both out of the car.
“We had parked on the pavement. Luckily I had unlocked Amber’s car seat while I was in the car and she knows she can’t get out on the road side of the car so was waiting at the door for me to open it because it had the child lock on. Shane rushed to the other side of the door thinking she was still in the car seat when the man said, “Make another move and I’ll shoot!”
“Thankfully I had pried her out by then and they were in the car within seconds and sped off. We were both just concerned about getting her out!”
The incident was reported to Umbilo SAPS and circulated widely on social media crime forums. The Lohr’s VW Polo was recovered days later in Umbilo after a woman recognised the registration number from a crime forum post.
“They stripped the car of everything inside, including the car seat, my handbag, sound system and the tools and spare tyre. Someone found my ID book outside their office in Pinetown a few days later, it shows that there are some good people around,” added Natalie.
Despite the harrowing ordeal, the most shocking thing for the young mother is that the hijackers told her to leave Amber in the car.
“I always used to have this idealistic view that criminals would not target us with the kids in the car. Despite hearing the awful stories, you want to believe they do crime out of desperation.
“Now I think they have no feeling and are just barbaric. It makes me sick to think that they wanted to take her with them. I am just thankful to God that I managed to get my daughter out the car and that none of us were harmed because it could have been worse,” she said.
The hijacking was the final straw for the Lohrs who have toyed with the idea of emigrating for years. Just days after the hijacking, they put their house on the market.
“We have made up our minds and even though it will take some time, we have started the ball rolling because we can’t live like this, we have to do it for our children.”
