N1 highway becoming a new hell run
Suspects hurl bricks at cars in early hours
CALLOUS criminals have set their sights on the N1 highway, attempting to turn it into the same hell-run as the N2 with two incidents targeting motorists in as many days.
In the latest incident, a stoning caused injuries to the face of Karla Etzebeth, a family member of Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth.
She was lucky to escape with her life.
Etzebeth, who works at the Waterfront, was driving home along the N1 at around 3am on Saturday when a stone thrown at close range, near the M5 Koeberg turn-off, shattered her window.
She managed to escape with injuries to the side of her face. Etzebeth said: “Just as I passed the M5 offramp I saw a huge stone lying on the road. I told myself this is rather odd and I drove around it.
“Then I noticed more stones in the road. I slowed down and in seconds four males came out from nowhere and threw stones at my car.
“One of the stones smashed my side window and hit me in the face. It happened so fast and I still don’t know how I, in that panic-stricken situation, reversed the car and managed to speed away from them.
“I called my fiancé, who came and drove my car to the Bellville police station.”
This was the second attack on the N1 within days.
Last week a similar attack on the N1 near Paarl claimed the life of school teacher Michelle Petersen
She was hit in the face by a brick hurled at the car she was travelling in with her husband, Anton.
Just as in Etzebeth’s case, the incident happened in the early morning when an unknown person appeared out of nowhere and threw a brick at the vehicle.
Etzebeth added: “Yesterday we went back to the place where the incident happened and didn’t notice any CCTV cameras.”
Lo-Ammi Truter, a friend of Etzebeth, posted pictures of the shattered window of the car and her friend’s bloodied face on Facebook.
The post elicited thousands of responses, with people condemning the spate of attacks and calling on the authorities to come up with a decisive plan to contain the violence.
Mayco member for safety and security JP Smith said: “Once I had heard about the incident I instructed that the CCTV footage in and around Century City be obtained.
“However, the footage showed no incident committed during the time the incident was alleged to have taken place.
“I also, when I later learned that the incident happened near the M5 Koeberg turnoff, requested CCTV footage from that vicinity.
“Again, the footage showed no stone-throwing incident.”
The case number registered for the Etzebeth incident at Bellville police station was 4219/11/2019, but yesterday police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana was not aware of the incident.
She added the SAPS’s festive season operations included patrols of highways to ensure safety during this period.
Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz called on anyone with information to come forward and report it to the SAPS on 08600 10111.