A SHORT stop to buy mushrooms on the side of the N2 nearly ended in death for Chico and Umesha Subramanian on Sunday afternoon.
The Richards Bay couple were on their way home from Durban, where they spent the weekend for a wedding celebration, and decided to ‘pull over to buy a bag of mushrooms’ from two young men about 10 kilometres from the Mvoti Toll Plaza.
‘We were negotiating a price when one of them suddenly pulled out a gun and demanded that we give them all our cash,’ said Umesha.
‘They also took my expensive Polo handbag with everything in it, like my cellphone, driver’s license, ID and cards.’
But even after the Subramanians handed over their valuables, the assailant continued to threaten them.
‘The man held his pistol inside the car and shouted ‘I’m gonna shoot you!’.
‘From the chilling expression on his face, I knew he meant it,’ said Chico.
‘I immediately ducked just in time before a bullet flew over me and we sped off.
‘We managed to get away by the grace of God.’
While washing his car on Tuesday,Chico found a bullet hole in the driver’s door panel as well as the bullet’s shell on the back shelf.
A case of armed robbery was opened at the Stanger SAPS, but no arrests have yet been made.
One member of the Stanger SAP told the Zululand Observer around 10 robberies take place each week by fake vendors on the N2.
The Subramanians said they will never buy items off the road again.
‘It’s important for us to warn others never to stop for goods from the roadside,’ said Chico.
‘Rather buy all your groceries at stores – even if it costs a few rands more because your life is worth mch more.’
