Motorist beaten by angry mob
A YOUNG Umhlatuzana man was brutally beaten for 30 minutes by a violent mob last week.
Sustaining a fractured nose, a deep cut to his head and several facial injuries, 22-yearold Jerome Pillay said he was still in shock after the savage attack.
Pillay said he was driving his 1970 vintage Toyota Corona on 37th Avenue and had his music on, when he was stopped by a man in his 50s.
“The uncle asked me why I was driving so fast. I apologised but he swore at me and told me he did not want to see me in the area again.”
Pillay said while leaving, he spotted a friend drive by.
“I followed him to his house about 100m away. The next thing I knew, I was being dragged out of my car by a group of guys with baseball bats, a metal pipe and a gun.”
The gang began punching him in the face, breaking his nose in full view of Pillay’s friend and the friend’s wife.
He was then threatened and bashed several times on the head with the butt of a gun.
“The friend’s wife eventually chased the guys away and rushed me to Chatsmed Garden Hospital where I received 16 stitches to my head. I was semi-conscious and I didn’t realise the extent of my injuries.”
Pillay said he did not know who the men were or their reason for attacking him. He said one was the middle-aged man who had sworn at him.
Pillay, who works at a home-improvement business, wants justice.
His future father-in-law, Percy Naidoo, said the attack was unacceptable.
“These gangsters are animals and deserve to be locked up. They are a serious danger to society.”
He said Pillay, who was not violent, was attacked for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said the motive for the attack was not yet known. “Bayview police are investigating a case of attempted murder and no arrest has been made.”