Whether you are hitchhiking or offering a lift to a hitchhiker you may be at risk of armed robbery.
On April 26, Mr Themba Mtsweni was travelling from Middelburg in the direction of Ogies. He had just dropped a hitchhiker off downtown when three men approached him asking if he could give them a lift to Ogies, he was heading in that direction and agreed to give the men a lift.
“As we approached the N4 turnoff one of the three men told me to stop my car, another grabbed me by the neck as the first drew a gun and pointed it at my face,” said Mtsweni.
He recalls how the third man sprayed him in the face with a spray, temporarily blinding him.
He stopped the car immediately and recalls hearing another car pull up next to his, the three men then robbed him of his valuables which included two cellular phones, his ID, wallet and a .38 Special firearm and its license.
“They just left me there, when I recovered and my vision returned I went to the police to report the robbery,” said Mtsweni.
In another case of armed robbery a man was hitchhiking along Walter Sisulu Street when he accepted a lift from a stranger and was robbed.
The incident occurred on April 27 when a golden Toyota Fortuner without license plates pulled up and offered the man a lift.
According to the man’s statement to police they had passed the Olifants River bridge when the driver of the Fortuner drew a gun and demanded that the man hand over his possessions, he was then told to get out of the vehicle and its driver drove off.
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