Candice Wagener recently became the victim of road rage, violence, and hate crime, when she accidentally rolled into the back of another vehicle on the corner of Barry Hertzog Drive and Victory Road in Emmarentia just before 8am on 1 March.
“I was getting ready to turn at the robot onto Victory Road,” said Wagener.
“And my car rolled forward into the back of his car and I reversed a little bit.”
The assailant got out of his Toyota RunX and checked for signs of damage. Wagener got out of her vehicle as well. “We both checked and there was no damage to either vehicle. From what I can gather, number plate touched number plate.”
The assailant told Wagener that by reversing, she was attempting to remove herself from any blame. “I reversed slightly to see if there was any damage; I didn’t reverse to say that I haven’t done anything. I told him there was no issue and to please calm down.” The assailant then stood very close to her, putting his own face very close to hers. “I’m a small person and he’s huge so I asked him not to disrespect my space.”
It was at that point that the assailant pushed Wagener and she retaliated.
“When I pushed him back, he grabbed my arm and he slapped me across my face so my glasses flew off. That was a shock to my system.” Wagener sustained scratches to her face and the assailant continued to advance on her to prevent the retrieval of her glasses.
“I tried to take a video with my phone and that’s when his friend got out the car and knocked my phone from my hand. It took a photo when I tried to pick it up so you can see me trying to reach for my phone and his hands grabbing my arms to stop me.”
Wagener continued with her attempts to record the situation, “It got very intense and as soon as I retaliated with swear words, [the assailant] pushed his friend out the way and put his hands around my neck, picked me up and shoved me back against my car. And he held me there, strangling me. It’s still the part of this whole situation that messes with my head. His friend stopped him and that’s when I went completely hysterical.”
Wagener proceeded to tell the first assailant that his behaviour was completely unacceptable to which he responded that she had damaged his car.
“I kept getting pushed around,” Wagener explained.
“Eventually, I asked him how he could treat a woman like this.” The assailant responded, ‘You are not a woman, you’re a man.’
“I’m gay and I told him again that I am a woman. He refused to acknowledge it,” Wagener said.
When she reported the incident at the police station, she was told that somebody had phoned to report the situation. However, the police had never arrived at the scene. “We were there for quite a while and nobody came.”
A female passenger climbed out of the Toyota and Wagener told her, “If this is your partner and if this is how he treats you, I feel very sorry for you that you endure this treatment and that you allow him to do it.” The woman simply turned to the assailant and said, ‘Let’s just go.’ The three individuals got back into the Toyota, and Wagener quickly took the necessary photographs. “I told him that this won’t going away. I’m not letting it go.”
Wagener’s mother, Cyndi McGuire, took to social media to get inform the community of the incident, “Physical abuse of any form is unacceptable and people loathe coming forward and helping because of the consequences of getting hurt themselves. So the perpetrators are left to do as they please and the victims stand alone.”
The Parkview police helped Wagener open a case of common assault, as well as a case of hate crime. Wagener visited her doctor to get her injuries checked and recorded for investigative purposes. “He felt justified in the way he was treating me because he thought I was ‘one of the boys’ and I do a lot of work for the gay community. I monitor a lot of gay community statistics and, in our country, we have a lot of a hate crime against gay people and we have a lot of road rage.”
Parkview Police Station’s spokesperson, Captain Tintswalo Sibeko, has confirmed that a case of common assault has been opened at the station. She said that the police investigations are underway, however, no arrests have been made yet.
Wagener concluded, “You can’t blame people for not helping because when they try to help, they get hurt in the process. And that’s the sad truth of our country.”
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Initial Story 2 March 2017, 2.15pm
According to a post on the eBlockwatch Facebook group, a woman was assaulted on the morning of 1 March in a road rage incident.
The post which was put up by the victim’s mother said her daughter was slapped, throttled, kicked and thrown against her car all because her car rolled forward into the vehicle in front. This incident took place on the corner of Barry Hertzog Drive and Victory Road in Emmarentia just before 8am.
There was apparently no damage caused to either vehicle. The mother explained in the post that two men jumped out of a silver Toyota RunX while three women passengers looked on and watched the assault.
Two other vehicles allegedly stopped.
“[A woman and a male motorist] attempted to help my daughter but the driver of the Toyota advanced on [the male motorist] so he left but he did take video footage [apparently] and called the cops. Alas she was left to defend for herself which she endeavoured to do so all the while being held back by the accomplice of the Toyota driver, who continuously kept hitting her phone out of her hand,” said the mother in the post.
The Toyota driver then allegedly demanded her driver’s licence which she refused to give to him.
Parkview Police Station’s spokesperson Captain Tintswalo Sibeko confirmed that there was a case opened at the station and investigations were underway.
Police have said they will share more information as it becomes available.
This is a developing story, updates will follow soon.
