Mbombela man recounts his abduction from home

A Steiltes man has shared his account of his abduction by an armed man on Monday evening, June 19, following a robbery at his Aurora Drive home that he shares with his elderly mother.

Rodney Haywood (51) said he was extremely thankful that both he and his mother were safe after the traumatic incident, which saw the suspect allegedly threaten to kill Haywood multiple times throughout the ordeal.

Haywood said he had arrived home from work at about 18:20. He had parked his car on his property and was just about to open the door after unlocking the security gate, when he heard a noise behind him. “I turned and saw a man holding a gun. He hit me over the head with it. I shouted for my mum to not open the door, but the suspect told her she must, and she did. He pushed me inside and told me to lie on the floor,” said Haywood.

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He said the robber started asking the two for money and their bank cards, but they both told him they had no cash and that Haywood had left his bank cards at work.

“He told my mum to lie on the floor as well, but I said she wouldn’t be able to get back up again. She has kidney failure and needs to go for dialysis three times a week. So he told her to sit on the couch. He told us he would not hurt my mother, but that he would kill me.”

Haywood said they pleaded with the suspect to take whatever he wanted, but to not hurt them. The man told Haywood to open his banking app and transfer money to his mum’s account. He instructed him to get up and load their TVs, laptops and other valuables into his car. The suspect tied the mother up and ordered Haywood into the driver’s seat, getting into the passenger seat himself.

“I could not see the gun anymore, but he got out a knife and held it right against my ribs the whole time I was driving. He told me that shooting me would be too loud, so he would stab me to death if I did not co-operate.”

He said the suspect instructed him to drive towards Karino.

Eventually, the suspect ordered Haywood to stop on a dirt path about 200m from the Sasol garage in Karino, and told him to unload all the stolen valuables into some nearby bushes. He said he saw a white bakkie arriving, which turned out to be the suspect’s accomplices, and he was told to get in his car’s boot so he could not see any of them.

He heard the other suspects drive away again, presumably with the stolen goods, and then he was let out of the boot so he could help the suspect start his car. The suspect told him he was going to draw money and put Haywood back into the boot.

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Haywood was then able to escape and ran onto the main road where he said members of AfriForum found him. Shortly after, security companies, Hi-Tech Security, Securicon Lowveld and Divergent Ops, also arrived on the scene. He was taken to hospital where the wound on his head was stitched up.

He said he later learnt that his mother had managed to get loose and ran out onto the street to call for help and people had started searching for him. Haywood said he was grateful to AfriForum and the security companies for all the assistance and their fast reaction to the situation.

Both Hi-Tech’s Lappies Labuschagne and Securicon Lowveld’s Callum MacPherson confirmed the incident and said the police were also at the scene.

A provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Donald Mdhluli, said he was still gathering information about the incident and would comment at a later stage.