Great-grandmother, 81, daughters, in hijack terror

AN 81-YEAR-OLD Silverglen great-grandmother who bravely fought off one of six hijackers who had tried, unsuccessfully, to pry her gold bangles from her wrists, is being treated for shock and trauma.

She and her two daughters were involved in an attempted hijacking in Mobeni Heights on Thursday afternoon.

The octogenarian, who was knitting in the front seat of her daughter’s car just moments before, was yanked out and pushed to the ground.

The family matriarch, who has Parkinson’s disease, is still in hospital.

“She had visions last night (Sunday) of the men coming back and she got out of bed. The nurses managed to calm her down,” said her 54-yearold daughter, from Queensburgh, who requested anonymity as they all now fear for their lives.

The women were on their way to eMkhomazi (Umkomaas) when they were accosted by the robbers, two of whom had firearms. They were travelling to visit a relative who had just had a baby. They were taking along an oil heater for the family.

Because of heavy traffic on Higginson Highway, they cut through Mobeni Heights. “I had the heater with me in the back seat and when it fell, my sister stopped the car. Before she even opened her door, they (the robbers) were at our doors,” she said.

Her 56-year-old sister, an administration clerk at a Malvern school, said: “I pulled over on Impala Drive. When the engine switched off, the front doors automatically unlocked. My door opened and a gun was held to my forehead. The man kept on cocking the gun and demanded the keys. I said ‘Take everything but do not harm us’,” she said.

“I was begging and pleading for our lives.”

Another guy pulled me out and I hurt my leg on the door.”

As the robber with her keys battled to start the car after the anti-hijack system activated, she ran to the rear of the car screaming for help and trying to flag down motorists.

A car stopped and its occupants came to assist, but one of the gunmen saw them and raised his firearm, so they retreated. They called for the police.

As this was happening a woman who lives nearby saw the drama and pressed her home panic alarm. She called her husband, who rushed out and fired shots in the air.

Scared, the robbers grabbed only a cellphone belonging to one of the women before fleeing down the road towards Lamontville, all the while firing shots randomly.

“You could only hear gunshots,” said the Shallcross mother of three. “It was really terrifying,” she said.

The robbers, she said, were all young, probably between the ages of 18 and 25.

Her sister said that when the robbers had ordered them out of the car, she initially sat put as she did not want to leave her mother alone inside.

When her mother fell, she quickly exited the car.

“They’re merciless,” she said. “Women need more protection from criminals and the police need to do more to stop them.”

Three weeks ago her brother’s son was hijacked outside his friend’s house in Malvern. The three hijackers took him along in his BMW, pushing him into a stream in Isipingo before taking his wallet and demanding his bank card PIN number.

They made several cash withdrawals at different ATMs, she said. The man was helped by nearby residents who called the police. His BMW was found in uMlazi. In the latest incident, police said their dog unit arrived and searched for the suspects but they managed to evade arrest.

“A case of attempted hijacking was opened at Bayview police station for investigation.”