Bay dad spoils brazen thief’s day
Suspect possibly linked to lock jamming syndicate, police say
ABRAVE Port Elizabeth father who helped arrest an alleged thief after a dramatic car chase through the city, may have cracked a syndicate using car jammers to break into vehicles.
At one stage, Mark Anschutz, 41, came to blows with the suspect, who tried to run him over.
The drama began before 8am yesterday, when Anschutz dropped his child at a play school in Walmer, only to realise minutes later that his laptop had been stolen out of his bakkie.
“I walked my child into the school at about 7.45am and when I went back to my bakkie, I saw my laptop, money and spare cellphone were missing,” Anschutz, the manager of Rex Diff and Gearbox, said.
“I knew there was a black Corsa bakkie involved as I saw it pull up when I stopped at the school, but it disappeared within minutes of me going inside.
“I then called my father to tell him I would be late for work as I was going to the police station.
“I told him the story and, at that stage, he was stuck in traffic in Target Kloof and a black Corsa was behind him.”
Anschutz sped off from Main Road, Walmer, into Target Kloof, where he also got stuck in traffic.
“I knew my father and the Corsa were stuck in traffic so I tried to catch up to them, but it was bumper to bumper,” he said.
“I mounted pavements to chase ahead and catch up to them, then my father phoned and told me he had lost the car when it turned left into Cape Road.
“I sped towards Newton Park [and] eventually caught up to the Corsa near First Avenue.
“I swerved in front of him [driver] and jumped out of my bakkie.
“The driver of the Corsa was shouting at me to not call the police, while throwing my laptop and cellphone back at me.”
But Anschutz had already phoned a police friend who had arranged for the flying squad to respond.
“I was trying to keep him [driver] there, when he started fighting with me. We had a scuffle and he managed to slip out of his jacket and jump back in his car.
“At that point, I was standing in front of the Corsa and he hit me with the car. I went flying over the bonnet when he tried to ride me over.
“I threw my laptop and stuff back into my car and chased after him while on the phone with the flying squad.
“We chased all over Newton Park, jumping stop streets and traffic lights, before he sped off towards Korsten.”
In Korsten, the Corsa came to a halt in a cul-de-sac.
“I was about 30m behind him when he got out of his car and walked towards me with his hand under his top – as if he had a gun,” a still visibly shaken Anschutz said.
“I reversed and he jumped back into his Corsa and sped off again.
“I was on the phone, giving information to the flying squad guys who were trying to find me.
“It was extremely difficult to navigate as all the street signs are either broken or missing.
“The man abandoned his car when I carried on following him.
“Then the police arrived and started chasing him on foot, and he jumped into a taxi to get away.”
But with the police hot on his heels, the man jumped out the taxi and ran into crowded side streets.
“I carried on chasing him in my bakkie, screaming and shouting,” Anschutz said.
“People in the street then realised I was chasing the guy and a group managed to grab him.
“[The] flying squad guys were great and if it were not for them, this guy would have escaped.”
At the abandoned Corsa, police found another laptop bag believed to have been stolen outside the Clarendon Park school earlier.
Flying squad constable Ludi Retief said three jamming devices were allegedly found inside the suspect’s pockets.
“It would appear that he was targeting schools and as parents got out the car to walk their children inside, the locks would be jammed using the device,” he said.
Police spokeswoman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said there had been several similar thefts in the Bay at shopping centres and schools.
“This is a constant problem and we suspect several thieves are involved with this network,” she said.
“They seem to target any area which has a high volume of traffic and where cars are parked such as schools and shopping centres.
“The jamming devices simply stop your car from locking, making it easy for them to get into your car without breaking a window.
“We are looking into links with this suspect and if he is possibly connected to other similar cases.”
The 32-year-old man will appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court on Monday for attempted murder, reckless and negligent driving, as well as two cases of theft.