AN Umbilo suspect is in King Edward Hospital nursing a broken leg, while the family he attempted to hijack on Friday evening, try to come to terms with the emotional scars of their traumatic ordeal.
The victim, a 43-year-old doctor, spoke to Berea Mail on conditions of anonymity saying the event was the “scariest thing I've lived through.” “My fiancee, our nine month old baby girl and I had just arrived home when I opened the garage door and drove in and parked the car. I had got out and was about to take the baby out of the back seat when I saw this man approach me.”
The doctor said the man had walked straight into the garage and demanded his car keys when he suddenly noticed a second suspect. “I just told him, what do you want, and shouted what do you want? I started punching the guy who I saw had the gun and he went down. By then my fiancee had seen what was happening and came out and started throwing things she had in her hands at them,” he said, reliving the horror.
The whole incident took about ten intense minutes before community members and neighbours arrived. “I was fighting both guys and later a lot of people came to see if we were okay. “It's the first time something like this has ever happened to me. I didn't know what to do or how to react. My instinct was to fight and protect my family. I had to fight, never knowing what they would do, because my fiancee was hysterical and my baby girl was still in the car.”
The doctor said he vaguely recalled seeing a third suspect but could not recall what had happened to him as he wrestled with the other two men. “I eventually threw a bunch of keys in the face of one of the men because my fiancee asked me to when she saw him point a gun at me. He said he continued to fight the men off despite the fact that they now had his house keys and car keys. He said he stumbled and fell and the men made a move to the car. “As they went to the car I shut the garage door behind them trapping them inside,” he said, adding that his daughter was still strapped in her car seat in the car. “By this time my neighbours and community assist members had arrived and the suspects realised they were under pressure and cornered. One jumped out the window and got away while the second one tried to jump through the high window but he broke his left leg and couldn't move. After the men got out through the window, we managed to get another key to open the car door, because they went off with all our keys. It was hot and my baby girl was just screaming and crying when we got her out. I went looking in my yard and found the injured suspect lying under the gazebo,” he said.
The grateful doctor thanked the community for rallying around him. “They all arrived to help and gave me a lock and padlock to use for the night. It was such a scary experience and was all over in an hour. Umbilo police took the suspect away. It's a horrible thing, I had to fight them because I didn't want them to get to my fiancee or baby girl,” he said.
“We need to be extra vigilant. I didn't see anyone near the house or follow us from Berea Centre, so they could either have been following us or even waiting as we got home. You have to be extremely careful and alert. We never noticed a car, but later remembered seeing a White Ford Fiesta with tinted windows parked close by in which the other two suspects got away. It can happen to anyone, nobody is immune to crime,” he added.
The family were examined for injuries at hospital and given the all clear. The doctor's hand was swollen from his fight with the suspects.
Lieutenant Pumzile Makaula, communications officer at Umbilo SAPS said a case of attempted hijacking is being investigated. “The suspect is at King Edward Hospital until he is well enough to appear in court. Hijackings are on the rise in the area and we want the community to be extra vigilant especially at night when entering and leaving home,” she added.
