MBOMBELA – A young man was left bloodied and beaten when his vehicle was hijacked earlier this week.
Mr Liam Hollyoak (24) sustained a concussion, a broken nose and various cuts and bruises. However, he cannot exactly remember how he sustained these injuries.
He told Lowvelder that he was out on Tuesday night. “I was in White River with my friends. The next thing I remember was walking along the N4 near Tarentaal Centre. I remember I wanted to get home. A garage attendant kindly lent me his phone so I could contact my mother,” he said.
It was about 04:00 on Wednesday. After his mother arrived at the garage, a security officer from Divergent Ops stopped to assist them.
Divergent Ops owner, Mr Jacques Meiring, said one of his officers saw Hollyoak bloodied and beaten at the garage and approached him. “He notified the police and Netstar to activate the tracking device in the vehicle,” said Meiring.
Netstar officer, Mr Vlam Els, said his control room received the call about a possible hijacked Opel Corsa Lite at 05:26.
“I immediately responded. We received a signal that the vehicle was moving in the direction of Hazyview. When I arrived there, our operator contacted me to say the signal was coming from the direction of the
R40 and moving towards Bushbuckridge,” Els eplained.
“I found the vehicle abandoned on a gravel road. I notified the Bushbuckridge and Mbombela police. The vehicle was taken to the vehicle theft unit for forensic analysis.”
Hollyoak was taken to Rob Ferreira Hospital by his mother, where a doctor treated his injuries.
He said the police suspected his drink might have been spiked, but his blood was not tested for this. “The doctor said the memory loss could also have resulted from the concussion,” he added.
Hollyoak said the police had contacted him to say he could fetch his vehicle soon. Mbombela police spokesman Capt Dawie Pretorius confirmed that the police were investigating a case of hijacking.
