Collective trauma in neighbourhood during Belladonna robbery

The residents of Belladonna Street were recently awoken by horrifying screams and multiple gunshots from an armed robbery and hijacking in the neighbourhood.

“That yell and the fear the woman had will always stay with us,” said one resident who lives near the place where the incident had occurred.

For once, however, an attack that could have ended in tragedy was thwarted thanks to the rapid action of one of the two victims who were targeted that evening, a man and a woman.

When they arrived home on March 8 after dinner, three armed attackers were lying in wait.

According to Divergent Ops, who were first on the scene, the men confronted them, cable-tied their hands and forced them into the victims’ Toyota Hilux bakkie.

Constable Bongani Mokoena, a spokesperson for the Nelspruit SAPS, confirmed the suspects’ intention was to drive the victims to a bank.

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They did not get far, however. “One suspect was sitting with the two victims in the back while the other two suspects were in the front seats. The male victim (whose identity is known to Lowvelder, but who chose not to be named at this stage) managed to cut loose his hands using a pocket knife that he had managed to get out from his trouser pocket, and used it to attack their assailants. This led to the vehicle veering off the road and crashing shortly after,” said Divergent Ops.

The man managed to stab the suspects, which caused the driver to lose control and crash into a nearby fence.

Recalling the bone-chilling screams she heard, the resident who lives nearby told the paper how the events had unfolded from a bystander’s point of view on what was supposed to be a normal night.

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She said they had moved to the area only a month ago due to safety concerns in their previous neighbourhood in the city. She had just put her children to bed and had gone to bed herself around the time of the incident. She was awoken by a man shouting, “Call the police! Call the police!”

As she got up, she heard about five gunshots being fired. The police later confirmed the suspects had fired the shots at the male victim.

Her husband had been working in another room at that stage. When they met up in the corridor, she told him to press the panic button.

“I was so nervous! My son woke up around that time. I just grabbed him and got him away from the window, because it is close to the road.”

The next moment, they heard a woman yelling the same thing: “Call the police!”

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“Those screams were terrible. We only managed to fall asleep at about 04:00 that morning.”

As a bystander to the incident, looking out of the window of your home, the scene was one of flashing lights, various security companies, an ambulance and the police.

Emer-G-Med had responded to the scene, and upon arrival, declared the one suspect dead, said Martin Jeffrey of the emergency service. The other two suspects had escaped and have not been found since.

The victims escaped physically unscathed, aside from some bruises to the man’s hand.