TERROR INSIDE BUS
Ms Kariniu Held Firmly to her bag while being dragged off her seat and down the stairs as suspect attempts to run off with the bag as he got off the bus at nabua
Cashier Adi Livia Kariniu of Narere lives in fear of travelling alone. This is after she went through a harrowing experience when she was dragged out of a bus by a man wanting to snatch her bag. He was one of three men, who got in the bus with her at the Suva Bus Stand. The alleged incident at Nabua, Suva, on Saturday night, was not an isolated case. Similar cases have been recorded in the same area in the past.
Police were yesterday compiling statistics, which would be released today.
The attack has left Ms Kariniu with no confidence in bus safety because no one in the bus came to her rescue.
“They thought he was my husband. It reflects the stereotype that still exists in our community today,” she said.
Ms Kariniu finished work at 7pm and caught a bus from the Suva Bus Stand with other colleagues. Ms Kariniu said: “I was sitting three seats from the front on the two seater. When we reached Nabua some passengers got off. I saw a group of three boys getting off. When the third boy passed me, he grabbed my bag and tried to run out of the bus with it but I held on tightly.
“The bus was full but no one did anything and he did not let go of my bag. He pulled my bag from inside the bus, dragged me down the stairs with it and was pulling me outside to the front of the bus when a passer-by yelled at him and ran towards him. That’s when he let go of my bag and ran away.”
By that time, she said she felt weak and sore from the bruises on her arm and head that made her dizzy and blurred her vision. Unfortunately, she wasn’t wearing her glasses so she could not see where the boys ran off to or who the passer-by was that came to her rescue.
“I did not want to let go of my bag because my files and laptop were inside. I did not think of the dangers of what he was doing; all I knew was there was no way that he was going to get my bag.”
Ms Kariniu said after her ordeal she sat at the nearby bus stop to catch her breath and collect herself before getting on the bus again and continuing her journey.
She said she was too weak to go to the Police Station to report the matter.
Police spokesperson Savaira Tabua is advising people not to let their belongings out of their sight when they are travelling in buses, adding they should put their handbag in front of them when sitting in the bus.