THE man who forced another vehicle through the doors of a Bluff petrol station shop has been charged with various crimes, including attempted murder, as more details of the incident emerge.
The local businessman, who can’t be named until he pleads, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, two of malicious damage to property, reckless and negligent driving, failing to stop after an accident and the use of a car without the owner’s consent. A man, who is known to the Sun and who wishes to remain anonymous, alleges he and his brother were attacked when the accused man falsely claimed they were trying to hijack a couple sleeping in their vehicle.
After leaving a local bar in the early hours of Saturday, 24 January, the man, his brother and a friend took their Nissan Almera to a petrol station on Cherwell Road. While the friend walked towards the shop to buy cigarettes, he noticed a couple they had met at the bar asleep in their car, a black Opel Corsa, with the windows open. Unable to wake them, he alerted his companions, the two brothers and he continued to the store. Concerned something might happen to them if left asleep in the car they too tried to rouse the sleeping man and woman. As their attempts finally proved successful, a man in a Toyota Fortuner arrived at the petrol station.
The driver of the Fortuner told the Corsa driver that the two men were trying to hijack him. A fight broke out between the four men, which turned physical, as the two brothers argued they were only trying to wake the sleeping couple. “After a while the man turned around, got in his car and I thought the fight was over,” said one of the brothers. He was mistaken.
The driver drove his vehicle straight at the brothers, who narrowly avoided the collision. The woman in the Corsa was not so lucky and she was forced through the doors of the store, still asleep in the car. A second attempt at driving into the men ended with the Fortuner crashing into the Almera. One of the brothers just managed to avoid the car and was injured as he dove out the way. The man then picked up a passenger, who had been waiting for him and sped away.
Brighton Beach SAPS reviewed CCTV footage of the incident and were able to identify the attacker and his car. On Monday, 26 January, after being in hiding, the man handed himself over to police.
He appeared in the Durban Regional Court on Wednesday, 28 January and was released on bail.
