UPDATE: Smash-and-grab witness tells all

On 15 January Nino Herr was a couple of cars behind the white Land Rover Discovery which had its window smashed on Witkoppen Road, as depicted in the video clip.

Herr said as the smash-and-grab happened he heard a commotion and saw cars behind the Land Rover speed off as if to get away from the incident. He said the vehicles in front of him just drove past the Land Rover as though nothing had happened.

“As I passed the lady I leaned out of the window,” he said. “She had already tried to flag down a couple of cars ahead of me, but was unsuccessful. She was in tears and had been cut on her arms.”

Herr explained that the victim’s cellphone had been stolen from her handbag which was on the passenger seat and she was hysterical. She asked Herr to call her husband to let him know that she had been involved in an incident. He complied, but said that while he was doing so the other motorists became impatient and were hooting for him and the Land Rover to get out of the way.

He said although the woman had sustained minor cuts on her arms from the shattered glass, she decided to drive home by herself. The woman said she would not be able to recognise the man who smashed her window.

Herr added that he drove through the intersection of Witkoppen and Stonehaven roads regularly and knew it to be a notorious smash-and-grab hotspot.

“Now that I know these guys’ modus operandi, I keep a lookout for the them every time I go through that intersection,” he said.

He said if motorists witnessed a smash-and-grab they should stand together, start hooting and have the police on speed dial. “Most importantly, help the victim after the incident has occurred,” he said. “Publishing the video was a great move. That way there is at least some chance of identifying the criminals.”

Read our previous stories:

Smash and grab caught on camera

Smash and grabs are planned operations