![](https://images.caxton.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2015/02/south-african-police23.jpg)
A Saturday evening drive home turned into a nightmarish experience for two Delville pensioners, when they were attacked on the highway.
William (69) and Woolbridge (70) Gilbert were travelling home on the N3 highway, at about 9.15pm, last Saturday.
They had just passed the Van Buuren Road off-ramp and were heading towards the Cydonia Road bridge when they noticed a car on the left side of the road and then hit a rock.
“The rock had deflected off the man’s vehicle into our lane and my wife couldn’t avoid it; there were cars in the lane next to us, so we couldn’t move,” said William.
The rock smashed their car’s sump and damaged other parts of the vehicle.
The airbags deployed and the car was filled with gas and powder from them.
“I told my wife to pull over and we got out of the car to let out all the fumes,” William explained.
“Woolbridge was using her cellphone to call someone for assistance, and I went to have a look at all the oil that was spilling from the car.
“All of a sudden there was a man in dark clothing next to me.
“He produced a gun and told me to give him all our money.”
William did not take kindly to this request and told the man to get lost.
“At this point things got a bit crazy,” he said.
“The man pointed the pistol at my chest and fired, but it just clicked; he then repeated this two more times, but both times the gun just clicked.”
The assailant then went for Woolbridge and tried to wrestle her cellphone from her.
She pushed him and William began to chase him.
The man grabbed Woolbridge’s handbag from the car and ran off across the highway.
William gave chase, but he couldn’t climb over the barrier over which the assailant had jumped.
“I returned to my wife and she pointed out people with torches in the trees on the opposite side of the highway,” he said.
“They were obviously going through her handbag.”
A few moments later a police car stopped next to the couple and William dashed to the vehicle, to tell the police what had happened.
“I told them we had been attacked and that the man had tried to shoot me,” William said.
“I also pointed out the torches in the trees and told them that that was where the assailant was.”
William was shocked and disappointed by the SAPS’s response.
“They said nothing, they didn’t get out of their vehicle and they didn’t call for back-up or anything,” he said.
“I couldn’t believe that the police were not going to do anything at all to assist us.”
When a tow truck arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, to assist the man who had originally hit the rock, the police just drove away.
“They just disappeared into the night, leaving us to fend for ourselves,” William said.
William then spoke to the man who had originally hit the rock and he said that the assailant had tried to rob him, too.
During the course of the pensioners’ ordeal a young man driving a silver car also stopped.
“We want to thank this young gentleman for his great act of kindness,” William said.
“He stood with my wife and ‘guarded’ her until we could tow the car away.
“He was very brave and we thank him from the bottom of our hearts.”
The couple arranged for their car to be towed home and then they went to Pretoria to stay with family for the night.
The next day William and his step-son-in-law, Wynand Britz, returned to the scene where they had seen the torches the night before, and found Woolbridge’s handbag.
The only thing missing from it was her ID book.
“I am very angry with the police for not helping us that evening,” William said.
“I think this type of service is beyond bad.
“We should rather have security companies patrolling the highways; at least we know they would do something to assist.
“This is not a police force; they do not have a calling to their work.”
Both William and Woolbridge have decided to go for counselling after their ordeal.
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