WHAT should have been a girls’ night out turned into a horrific ordeal for a group of friends from North Durban and Musgrave. On Thursday, 6 February the five girls, who did not want their names mentioned, were on their way to Musgrave to drop off one of the friends.
The girls were cornered in Norfolk Road when a silver Toyota Avanza pulled up in front of their parked car. They said four men jumped out of the Toyota and demanded their belongings. They believed the men were also attempting to hijack them.
“All of us were kicking the men in the faces and fighting back as much as we could and just kept screaming to attract attention. We kept shouting for a friend to keep pressing on the hooter, while the men grabbed and pulled at us. One of us was pulled out the car and repeatedly kicked in the stomach,” they said.
The women recounted how people from nearby homes and blocks of flats, armed with brooms and shovels, came to their aid seconds after hearing the commotion.
“We all watched as one of the men put his hands down his pants to presumably pull out a weapon. If the neighbours didn’t come when they did, the situation, in our opinion, could’ve escalated,” one of the women said.
What was most dissapointing to the group of friends was that just 10 metres away from the scuffle there was a guarding hut. They thought it was a well-known security company’s guarding hut, but were later informed that this hut was sub-contracted to East Coast Protection Services.
“One of the neighbours was told by one of the guards that he didn’t come because his shoelaces were untied. We were told by a neighbour, who said he was involved in the operations of this security company, that they are not there to protect, just to raise the alarm.
“They didn’t do even that much. Even if that is the case, the mere presence of security men armed with batons would have stopped the incident sooner.
“The whole experience was a rude awakening to the fact that we must never become complacent when it comes to our safety and security and that these types of brutal crimes can happen to anyone and at anytime. Even if we employ private security companies, we all realised that the only people we can truly rely on is ourselves and each other.
“I realised that the real security are the people that live right next door to you. In a day and age where few people even know what their neighbours look like, perhaps we should all make a greater effort to get to know our neighbours since they’re most likely going to be the ones that will save your life at the end of the day and not those who we think we are paying to be there to protect us,” another one of the women said.
Response from guarding company, East Coast Protection Services:
“At approximately 12h20 on the morning of 7 February 2014, I received a telephone call from Rickus Lambrechts in connection with an attempted hijacking in Norfolk Road. I, Stephen James Botes, rushed to the scene to find Chubb armed response and 2 Chubb street patrol security guards standing next to an Opel Corsa vehicle with numerous people screaming and shouting at the Chubb armed response officer as well as the security officers.
“I approached an elderly lady and asked what had happened and she claimed that her daughter had been assaulted by one of the attempted hijackers. During this time I was being shouted at by two young ladies that the security guards had not come to their assistance. I asked if anybody had notified the SAPS and took it upon myself to contact the SAPS and the Durban Metro Police. I then proceeded to question the two street patrol security officers who maintained they had been on a magtouch patrol and were at the top end of Norfolk Road.
“I then phoned Mr Rickus Lambrechts who spoke to the Chubb armed response officer who proceeded to answer all of Mr Lambrechts’s questions. On questioning the street patrol security guards they maintain they heard screaming and started to run towards the vehicle, which was approximately 10 metres away from them. The people concerned left in their vehicle.
“The SAPS and the Metro Police arrived to a barrage of insults and different stories as to exactly what had happened. I would like to state that the street patrol security guards are unarmed and are there to raise the alarm to get further back-up from Chubb’s armed response. I do not understand that if it was an attempted hijacking why the vehicle’s passenger door was the scene of the incident. Further I would like to mention that the site Norfolk Road is only manned with one security officer however, because of incidents that are frequently happening in the Morningside area, we have taken it upon ourselves to place additional security guards on the site.
“Furthermore, the SAPS as well as Metro left the scene at the same time that I left the scene, after I was told by the mother of the alleged victim that we are ‘useless and incompetent’.” – Steve Botes – East Coast Protection Services
