HOEDSPRUIT: Couple assault woman for “bad parking”
A woman was assaulted at the Le Bamba parking by a man and his wife for parking a little to her right of the parking bay she had occupied on Monday afternoon.
“Returning to my car with a handful of supplies, the couple had just parked next to me, as I struggled to get the supplies into the car, the man tried to get out of his car”, stated Tracey Bruton, a Hoedspruit resident.
Seeing that there was not enough space between the two cars, Bruton told the Hoedspruit Herald that she politely asked the man if he can give her a chance to quickly get into her vehicle so that he can be able to get out of his vehicle.
“The man started shouting at me, telling me how I parked too close to his vehicle, continuously asking me where I am from and calling me an idiot”, she recalled the incident. “I was eventually cornered by the man and his wife, the man punched me hard before they started shoving me against my vehicle”, she further stated.
It is alleged that the man continued hauling insults at the victim as she put her hands up hoping he would back off and understand that she was surrendering.
“There were many people watching in the parking lot, but only one young man came to my rescue, he managed to get him away from me. I got into my vehicle and took a picture of his vehicle registration number, he glared at me and continued hauling insults at me with a thick German accent,” said Bruton.
The incident was reported to the Hoedspruit police station and they managed to identify the individual.
“I am afraid to go into town, I am scared I might bump into that man again”, concluded Bruton.
The Hoedspruit community showed their messages of support to Tracey Bruton, and this is what some of them had to say:
