Woman escapes attack in Tokai Forest

BARELY a week after 16-year-old Franziska Blöchliger was murdered and raped, a Muizenberg woman narrowly missed falling victim to a man in Tokai Forest when she returned from a walk to find a man waiting for her on the back seat of her car.

She escaped when her German shepherd charged the man, scaring him off. A shaken Cyndie Dennis said she believed the outcome would have have been horribly different if her dog had not been with her.

Franziska’s murder last week is still under investigation. Yesterday it emerged that the four men arrested would apply to be released on bail.

Dennis said she had been walking in Tokai Forest last Sunday at about 1pm. She had walked for only about 15 minutes but when she returned, she saw someone inside her car. A second man was seated behind the wheel of another car parked next to hers. They were unfazed by her appearance, even telling her they hadn’t found much in her car.

“He carried on sitting there,” she

said, describing the men as calm and casual.

But when the dog began barking uncontrollably and tried to charge the man in her car, they fled.

She jumped into her car and gave chase.

“My adrenalin just kicked in. It was probably a very stupid thing that I did,” Dennis said.

She took down their regis- tration number and when she was satisfied she had a good description of the men and the car, she gave up the chase.

She later reported the matter to the Kirstenhof police and posted details of the incident on Facebook.

Police spokeswoman Constable Noloyiso Rwexana confirmed a case of theft out of a motor vehicle had been opened. No arrests had been made.

Dennis said she was angry there were no security officials around, especially since Franziska had been killed between 300m and 400m from the parking area.

SANParks previously told Weekend Argus that the area where Franziska died had never previously been considered a crime hotspot.

However, since the murder the area had received attention and overall security was being reassessed, regional spokeswoman Merle Collins said.

fatima.schroeder@inl.co.za