A hijacker who robbed a woman in Kenilworth had allegedly met his victim through Gumtree.
|||Cape Town - A hijacker who robbed a woman in Kenilworth on Sunday had allegedly met his victim through Gumtree.
She had apparently placed an advert for the sale of an antique watch on the classifieds website, and had met the would-be buyer at McDonald’s on the corner of Rosmead Avenue and Wetton Road.
The woman who was robbed could not be contacted by the Cape Argus at the time of going to print, but an eyewitness, who asked not to be named for fear of his safety, described Sunday’s events:
“When the man arrived at the parking lot he asked if she could give him a lift to a nearby ATM.
“She let him into the front passenger door, at which point he pulled a gun on her.
“She was pushed out of the car and he tried to escape, but other motorists saw what was happening and tried to block him off.”
The hijacker fired his gun, and an ADT guard who was in the car park returned fire, the eyewitness said.
The robber fled in the woman’s white VW Polo, but lost control of the vehicle about a kilometre away, where he crashed into another car.
He was chased by members of the public but made his way to another vehicle and drove off.
ADT spokeswoman Lynn Erasmus confirmed that one of their guards was involved in the shootout, and that police were investigating.
Hanif Loonat, chairman of the Western Cape Community Policing Forum, said people should conduct sales of this sort at police stations.
Neither police nor Gumtree had responded to Cape Argus queries at the time of going to print.
Cape Argus