A local motorist has shared his experience of an attempted hijacking and how others could avoid a similar situation happening to them.
Michael Pretorius was on his daily commute in the late afternoon of 13 August when he noticed something suspicious.
Pretorius writes:
I was the sixth vehicle in the queue at the traffic light on Beyers Naude Drive at the intersection with Dale Lace Avenue travelling towards Honeydew.I was in the right-hand lane, and the slipway to turn right into CR Swart Drive was on my right.
A guy walked from the middle island towards the car in front of me and then proceeded towards my car looking like he was begging. Another guy was about five metres behind him, and yet another one a few metres behind the second one.The first guy (with a green hoodie) passed my car a little too close and seemed to be looking past me into my car, and then into the back window.
I got the impression that he was signalling the second guy (with a blue hoodie and a camouflage face mask) who was now at my front wheel, quickly approaching my driver side window. My suspicions were already raised by this time, and I, therefore, locked eyes with this second guy as he approached my window.
He also gave the impression that he wanted to beg and asked me to roll down my window. I signalled to him ‘no’, upon which he pulled out a handgun. This he showed to me and screamed that I must get out of the car. He then immediately cocked the gun and hit the window very hard with the barrel a couple of times at which point I slammed on the gas, turned into the slipway and sped off.
This all happened in a matter of three or four seconds.As I looked in my rear-view mirror, I noticed that the first guy had already been on his way around to the other side of my car where my wife was seated.I believe we got away because of the following reasons:nI always stop a couple of metres behind the vehicle in front of me so that I have an opportunity to move forward and turnnI always disable the stop-start function of my car so that the engine idles while I am at the traffic lightnI always know what goes on around my car.
I never look at my phone while standing in traffic, and I make sure that I study the people who beg and move around the cars when we are stationary at a traffic lightnI did not freeze when this guy confronted me, but rather just stepped on the gas and sped off.I really hope this helps someone who might find themselves in this situation next.
Please stay safe and stay paranoid when you are in your car and be weary of those who beg.
