Hilda Fourie, News 24
2010-01-21 22:31
Pretoria - Two men wearing police uniforms and driving a marked police vehicle hijacked a father of three on Thursday.
After driving around with Piet Erasmus for hours, he was forced onto his knees at the side of a road. He expected to be shot, but the hijackers fled when two teachers drove past.
"They saved my life. The hijackers would've shot me there and then if they hadn't driven past," said the 51-year-old Waterkloof Ridge resident.
Erasmus says it was about 06:00 when he saw the police car, blue lights flashing, behind him just north of the Murrayhill off-ramp on the N1.
He stopped and got out of his car. Two men in police uniform, wearing reflective jackets with the word "Police" on it, got out of their car.
'That's when I got scared'
Four elderly Dutch tourists were shot at enroute to their Marloth Park holiday cottage near the Kruger Wildlife Reserve and robbed of about R100,000’s worth of electronic equipment and personal documents. Their rental car was hijacked and they were left stranded at the roadway in the pitch-dark. The attack happened at 20:30.
[ZA Top 20 Dangerous Travel Destinations]
The driver politely asked Erasmus to open the boot because they were looking for a car similar to his.
"The other man searched my briefcases.
"The next moment the driver shoved a 9mm into my ribcage. The other one touched his firearm.
"I knew I was in real trouble when the back doors of the police car opened and two men in civvies got out. That's when I got scared."
The two men grabbed Erasmus' keys and made off in his Mercedes-Benz AMG C63 (registration number YNV?717?GP).
Erasmus was bundled into the police car, where he was forced to lie on the back seat with his head in the lap of one of the men. They told him to close his eyes and drove around for about three hours.
Military precision
He says he prayed for the entire time, recited verses from the Bible and thought of his wife Marlene and his children Pieta, 8, Arlene, 6 and ten-week-old Alyssa.
The hijackers took his watch and R1 200 from his wallet; shared the money and gave back the wallet.
"They said if I co-operated fully, I'd be OK.
"They were talking on their cellphones all the time."
Erasmus says the military precision with which they committed the crime, shows it wasn't the first time they'd done it.
'Kneel, close your eyes'
The hijackers dropped Erasmus off next to a road outside Hammanskraal at about 09:00. They ordered him to kneel, close his eyes and bend his head.
"I waited for the shot, wondering where the bullet was going to hit me."
But two teachers driving in the opposite direction, Jeseline Lekalakala and Fransiena Mausela probably saved his life as the hijackers fled in the car.
They took him to the Hammanskraal police, where he laid a charge.
The police did not respond to Beeld's enquiries. -- Beeld
http://why-we-are-white-refugees.blogspot.com/2010/01/sas-robbers-with-blue-lights-badges.html
