A GOOD Samaritan, who noticed two men verbally abusing an elderly man in a parking lot in Pinetown, nearly became the victim of a brutal assault when one of the men tried to punch him, while the other pulled out what looked like a bush knife in front of scores of people.
The Pinetown resident, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal, said he went to the Fourway Spar on Glenugie Road to buy bread and milk on Friday, 30 June.
On his way out, he noticed two men screaming at an elderly man who was seated in his car. He decided to intervene and asked the men to calm down, in the hope of sorting out the altercation amicably.
But, the men turned their attention on him, with one of the men cornering him between his car door and the car parked next to him.
He said his attacker became extremely aggressive and swore at him.
“He swore and shouted at me, saying: ‘Who are you to tell me what to do? This is my land, you took it from us.’ I was petrified. I didn’t want to start a whole new fight, I just wanted them to sort out their differences amicably.”
The security guard stepped in and tried to hold the attacker back, but the attacker hurled himself at the resident in an attempt to punch him.
Fortunately, the resident swerved out the way, but the attacker still managed to knick him on the ear.
The resident told the man to leave and that he didn’t want to get into a fight with him, but the attacker would not stand down.
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During their scuffle, the elderly man quickly made a dash for it and left the parking area.
Then, in a shocking turn of events, even though the footage shows the shopper didn’t retaliate, the other man pulled out a machete from a sheath and stood behind the security guard and car guard who were trying to defuse the situation.
When the resident noticed the knife, he knew it was a life or death situation and told the men he was done arguing and that he was leaving.
Almost became a crime statistic
In the video footage, the attacker steps back, as if aiming to take a swipe at the resident with his machete.
At this point, the guards managed to pull the attackers away from the resident when another shopper tried to intervene. It was at then the man, armed with a machete, fully withdrew his weapon and threatened the second shopper. While the fight continued on the other end of the parking area, the resident decided to leave.
In the video footage, shared online, the man armed with the knife also hurled himself at the second shopper, but thanks to the security and car guards’ attentiveness, he couldn’t attack him.
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The armed man can be seen turning away from the growing and curious crowd to put his machete back in its sheath, and unknowingly turned to face the security camera.
The resident said there was a man at the scene who filmed the entire incident and called on him to bring the footage to police as it contains sound.
“I saw my life flash before my eyes that day. I only wanted to do a good deed, but nearly became a crime statistic myself. I am so thankful that the security guard and car guard were there and am grateful for their help, as well as the intervention of others at the scene.”
The resident said he doesn’t know what led to the two men screaming and verbally abusing the elderly man in the first place, but said it doesn’t excuse their behaviour when all he wanted was to calm the situation.
The resident has opened a case of assault at the local police station.
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