“KEEP quiet, and don’t be stupid. Or else we will kill you.” These were the chilling words heard by 24-year-old Kyle Lupke, minutes after he was kidnapped at gunpoint outside his home on Monday.
Not only had the two men fled with his car and abandoned him in KwaMashu, they also gave him R20 of his own money to use for taxi fare, he said.
Speaking to the Northglen News yesterday the uMgeni Park resident recalled how his evening had turned into a nightmare after returning home from a long day at work.
Lupke, a candidate attorney, said two men approached him while he was parked outside his gate on Atterbury Road.
“I had gotten out of my car to open the gate when they approached me. One pulled out a gun and forced me into the backseat. The unarmed man then jumped in next to me while the guy with the gun climbed into the driver’s seat,” he said.
Before threatening him to remain quiet they demanded his cell phone, wallet and USB flash drive.
Lupke was eventually dropped off in KwaMashu where the suspects handed him a R20 note from his own wallet.
“I jumped out and they sped off. At that point I was just happy to get out. I approached a nearby house where I asked for assistance. I called my brother and my dad and told them that I had just been hijacked,” he said.
The woman who he had approached for assistance later drove him to Bridge City where his family was waiting.
“I was so relived when I saw my mum, that I just ran into her arms and broke down he said. The whole time I thought these men were going to kill me or hold me for ransom,” he said.
Lupke said he was grateful to the family who assisted him after his ordeal.
W/O Leon Audh, spokesman for the Greenwood Park SAPS, confirmed that a case had been opened at the station. No arrests have been made and the vehicle has not been recovered.
This is the eighth reported hijacking in the Greenwood Park policing precinct in the last month.
