Kidnap victim tells of his 12 hours of terror
Cousins also held hostage – wife flees with toddler
AN EAST London businessman has spoken out about his ordeal with armed robbers who invaded his Bunkers Hill home on April 5, kidnapped him and his two cousins and stole R100 000 from his bank account.
Eritrean national Mussie Kahase Aizaya told the Dispatch he was too afraid to return to his business premises and he had tightened security at his Bunker’s Hill home.
Aizaya said he spent 12 dreadful hours with his kidnappers, who released him near Stutterheim.
Cambridge police spokesman Mluleki Mbi confirmed at the time of the attack that R40 000 was withdrawn from Aizaya’s account by the criminals from eight different ATMs. A further R60 000 was paid as ransom by Aizaya’s Durbanbased brother.
Mbi said: “The money was transferred to the suspect’s Capitec bank account.”
Mbi said a police intelligence unit was in possession of the bank statements and they were tracing the kidnappers.
On Tuesday, Mbi said no one had yet been arrested.
In an interview, Aizaya said the criminals attacked him and his two businessmen cousins Bereket Brhane, 27, and Semere Sasinos, 18, at 6.45pm, when they arrived at Aizaya’s home and stopped outside his gate in his car.
He said the assailants held them at gunpoint and ordered all three into the back seat. Two got into the front and one got into the back with the three captives.
Aizaya said the assailants ordered him to telephone his wife, who was in the house to tell her to let them in. Aizaya said he pleaded with the criminals, saying he did not keep money on the property.
The gang then drove the three to a bushy area outside Mdantsane, where they ordered them to lie down. The captives were blindfolded, and their hands bound with shoelaces and cable ties. They were also hit by their attackers.
Aizaya said the thugs told them someone had offered them R200 000 to kill all three of them but they would not execute them if the three paid them R300 000.
“I said cool.”
Azaiya said he was shoved back in the car and Semere was stuffed into the boot. During the turmoil, Bereket broke loose and fled.
Semere later managed to jimmy the boot catch and jumped out of the moving car in Western Avenue, fracturing a leg.
The suspects drove Aizaya to a section of a former municipal campground at the beachfront known as Marina Glen 2, where they transferred him to another car. Another three thugs joined them and the gang of six drove back to Aizaya’s home.
“They were looking for my wife and kids but could not find them.”
In an affidavit to the police, which the Dispatch has seen, Aizaya’s wife Luwam Haile Hagos, 23, told of how she fled with her twoyear-old son to the nearby East London Golf Club, where she hid for a long time.
Hagos said she had become worried when Aizaya, Bereket and Semere failed to show up after work.
She was terrified when strangers in a white sedan showed up at her gate at 9pm, using the remote to open it.
The men shouted at the door that they were police officers.
“While they were banging at the door, I took my child and got out through the back door.”
After a number of hours she finally left in search of help from a neighbour. She went home when she saw police at her house. —