Nine-hour nightmare for hijack victim locked in his car’s boot
An East London motorist, who was hijacked and abducted, miraculously survived a ninehour ordeal when the stolen vehicle abruptly crashed into a house in Mdantsane — with him in the boot.
Stunned neighbours rushed to the scene of the crash.
The occupants were uninjured.
While they were assessing the damage, a noise was heard coming from the vehicle.
When the boot of the VW Polo was opened, the victim was found tied up inside and he began to relay to the shocked community what had happened to him.
He described how he had been assaulted and pistolwhipped on the head before being forced into the boot of his own car.
A witness said the motorist told residents at the crash scene that he had been hijacked in the East London CBD at about 8pm on Saturday.
The three hijackers drove around all night with him in the boot until they crashed the car at Velwano in NU1.
The traumatised car owner, shivering with cold and shock, was rushed to hospital.
“The victim said he had just stepped out of a fast-food outlet when they pounced,” the source said.
The assailants took the man’s cellphone and wallet and demanded his bank pin.
It was not immediately clear whether they had already started withdrawing money from his account.
After the car crashed, the men jumped out and fled.
Residents gave chase and caught a suspect, whom they allegedly assaulted.
A bag with stolen phones was allegedly found in his possession.
“The phone of the car owner was not among those,” the source said.
The source said the victim used someone else’s phone to get in touch with his family and let them know what had happened to him.
Though the car owner initially struggled to remember his loved ones’ contact details, he finally remembered his wife’s number.
“His family is from around East London,” the source said.
“It later emerged that his wife is in Gauteng, but his sister arrived.”
The car owner’s sister confirmed to the Dispatch that her brother had been hijacked.
She said he was still shocked and traumatised.
“He is still sleeping. His body is painful after the crash,” she said. “He has been discharged from hospital.”
She said it was unclear whether the attackers had withdrawn money.
“He doesn’t have a phone to ascertain [whether there were transactions],” she said.
“We have just come back to check the vehicle.
“I’m so exhausted.” Police spokesperson Brig Tembinkosi Kinana said police were investigating the case.
Though local residents said a suspect had been caught, Kinana said no one had been arrested.
He confirmed the vehicle had crashed into the house.
“It is alleged that the house owner at Velwano heard a loud bang,” Kinana said.
“He went outside to investigate and saw the white VW Polo had driven into his house.
“He saw three men inside the vehicle, but they ran away.
“He heard a noise from the boot and saw a person alleged to be the vehicle owner with his hands tied up behind his back.
“The suspects ran away and the owner was taken to the hospital, where he was treated and discharged.”
The Dispatch reported in October that a frantic search for an East London Bolt driver who went missing after he was allegedly hijacked had a sad ending when he was found dead.
The grey VW Polo Vivo that 35-year-old Siviwe Nogqala Mbeki, of NU8 in Mdantsane, had been driving was later found in Duncan Village with blood stains and without registration plates.
Two suspects allegedly asked boys at a car wash to remove the blood stains and never returned to collect the vehicle.