A resident from Roodekrans, who can not be named due to safety concerns, survived a hair-raising attempted hijacking on Monday night.
She was returning from a business trip in Durban with a male colleague when the incident took place. As she turned off the highway onto 14th Avenue she noticed a red BMW following her, but at first did not make much of it. After a while, she realised the vehicle was still tailing her, so she decided to take alternative routes through Constantia Kloof to Christiaan de Wet Road, but she was unable to lose the BMW. When she turned into Christiaan de Wet Road, the driver of the BMW became more aggressive in his pursuit, and when she turned onto Wilgerood Road, she realised she and her companion were in trouble.
The BMW drove close behind her and the driver kept on flashing its lights. When she got to Ouklip Road she decided to try to reach the safety of the Engen Garage at the Ouklip Spar. All the while, the driver of the BMW was trying to push her off the road but by skipping the stop streets she managed to stay ahead. The BMW then disappeared. Unbeknownst to her, the driver took another route and beat her to the fuel station. As she approached, she saw the BMW waiting, so she decided to carry on to the Sasol Garage at the corner of Ouklip and CR Swart Roads. Her colleague noticed that one of the occupants of the BMW was pointing a rifle at them as they got increasingly aggressive in their attempt to make their victims stop.
To her dismay, she could not see any vehicles or people at the garage. She made a U-turn with the BMW following suit and sped down Ouklip Road back to the Engen Garage. The BMW then disappeared, but just before she reached the garage she noticed a silver VW Polo next to the road. Being in shock, she did not take much notice of it. When she reached the safety of the garage she ran into the shop where employees and bystanders tried to console her and find out what had happened.
After a while, the VW Polo pulled into the garage forecourt. The occupants, two black males, two white males and a coloured male, did not get out of the vehicle but just sat and stared at them. A white BMW came along later and parked next to the VW Polo. Her colleague then told her that “he could swear” one of the occupants had been in the red BMW as well.
The police eventually arrived and took their statement. They also gave the police the registration number of the red BMW that had been following them. While they were still talking to the police, a red BMW sped past the garage and the police gave chase. With the assistance of four other police vehicles, they managed to stop the red BMW further down the road. They confronted the male driver, but as his vehicle’s registration number did not match the one given to them, they let him go.
On their return to the garage, the victims gave the police a description of the driver who had pursued them. They then realised that they had actually let the suspect go. The mystery of the different registration plate was solved when the CCTV footage was watched.
The footage showed that the White BMW, a white bakkie and the VW Polo were all at the garage earlier and were all seen coming and going together at various times. But the biggest shock was yet to come. It was discovered that the registration number of the VW Polo was exactly the same as that of the red BMW the police pulled off, confirming that the occupants of the four vehicles were in cahoots.
“It was a terrifying experience, but what was worse is the fact that this was meticulously planned. What I do not understand though is why they would go to so much trouble to hijack my vehicle (a Nissan Levina). When we reached CR Swart Road it felt as if they knew where I was going and were trying to stop me from getting there,” said the woman.
“Whether you are male or female you have to be aware. I had a false sense of security having a male colleague with me. The fact that he was in the vehicle did not deter the criminals at all,” she concluded.
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