The man, who did not want to be identified, was en route from Middelburg to Johannesburg on August 28 when he was met by eight suspects.
He said that he was unsure of the destination and needed to stop to make a call to confirm the address before he carried on, on his way.
The driver alleges that he parked his truck on the side of the road, just under a bridge at 17:30 when he noticed two vehicles approaching him.
“One of the vehicles parked in front of the truck and another one parked on the driver’s side. I tried to get out the truck but noticed that one of the suspects had a gun,” he said.
Apparently the suspects surrounded the truck with some getting on top of it, and others climbing inside.
According to the victim, once they were inside they hit him hard on the head with a gun as he tried to escape. Then the suspects allegedly also electrocuted him and threw him into the back seat of the truck. Two of the suspects sat on him to keep him from trying to run away.
“They drove with me to an open field, I did not know where I was. When I asked, they assaulted me and demanded my cash, cards and cell phone. I gave it to them with the wrong PIN codes as I thought they would take it and go,” said the driver.
The suspects went to go and check the validity of the information and found it to be wrong.
“I heard one speaking on the phone with his accomplice, who had left to check the PIN. They said they would kill me if the PIN is still wrong and leave me in the bushes,” said the victim.
Fortunately something seemed to have gone wrong with the suspects and time went by slowly, but the remaining suspects were getting anxious as it was approaching daylight on August 29.
“I do not know the exact time but I guess it might have been around 06:00 when they decided to leave me there. I managed to get out of the bushes eventually and head towards the nearest phone to alert the company. I also made my way to the police station,” concluded the victim.
He has since been booked off work to deal with the trauma and to recuperate from the injuries that he sustained.
The value of the goods stolen along with the truck amounted to R1,6-million.
