Two alleged hijackers were arrested on February 24, 2015 in Pretoria after attempting to hijack a vehicle with a woman and her five year old daughter inside, but have run themselves into four “heroes”.
Caren du Venage (24), fetched her daughter, Megan, as usual, on Monday afternoon at the Kasteeltjieland Nursery School in Booysens, in the west of Pretoria. “When we left the nursery school, I saw three men sitting just a short distance from my vehicle”, Du Venage told Maroela Media on Wednesday. “I did not feel unsafe because it was peak time and busy at the school.”
She unlocked her car, a white BMW 318i, and fastened Megan in the car seat when the men quickly approached her. “I saw them coming closer and wanted to jump quickly into the car, but they were too fast for me and pulled me out from my vehicle. They held a gun to my neck and shocked me with a device, while two of them jumped in the car.”
Du Venage battled to grab her car keys from the ignition. Meanwhile, Megan started crying, and a suspect jumped in the car beside her, and also shocked her with the device to keep her quiet.
“Other parents at school saw what happened, and suddenly there came my heroes. Lynette van der Linde parked her car in front of my car so that the hijackers could not get away. Jean-Marc du Plessis, Shaun Cambridge and Henry Roux were also there and broke the car’s windows to get Megan out of the car. They kept the two suspects until the police arrived. It all happened so quickly. I am so grateful to all those people who put their own lives at risk to help me and my child, “she explains.
She said the third suspect saw trouble coming, and fled the scene in a hurry. Besides the great shock, the mother and daughter suffered minor injuries. Megan’s foot was a bit swollen, there might be a piece of glass stuck in her feet. She also did not sleep well, and had nightmares, “she said.
Du Venage praised the officers of the Hercules police station who were quickly on the scene.
Police are investigating the incident.
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