Wife relives hijacking horror
2006-06-14 22:37
Liela Magnus
Pretoria - A woman had to look past her suspected rapist in the dock of Pretoria High Court to watch her husband testify about a cruel attack on them two years ago at Grasmere Toll Plaza.
The 47-year-old blonde sat diagonally behind her suspected attacker and tightly against her sister-in-law.
Earlier, she had testified behind closed doors how their bakkie had been hijacked on the night of March 31 2004 and she and her niece, who was 14 at the time, were raped.
Jacob Cokinha Kasper, 37, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to the charges against him. He did not give an explanation of plea.
The husband said he and his family had been en route to Uniondale in the Eastern Cape when a red Toyota Camry forced them to stop just after 04:00 at the Grasmere Toll Plaza, south of Johannesburg.
Tried to force open the doors
"Two men jumped out the Camry and came running towards our bakkie, shooting and shouting at us."
One man on the driver's side and another on the passenger side tried to force open the doors.
"I opened my door and the man on my side tried to pull me out the car, while he shouted at me: 'Where's your fucking money and telephone?' "
The husband said he was still wearing his safety belt.
He unfastened it and the attackers forced him to sit on his wife's lap, and one of the men climbed on top of him.
One of the attackers shot at him when he said there wasn't room for everyone in the front of the bakkie. They followed the Camry for about 900m.
The men wanted to force him, his wife and the girl into the boot of the Camry, but there wasn't enough room.
The men pulled him out and said they would shoot him dead.
"They forced me back to the bakkie. One told me I must run and hit me on the head with a firearm.
"I fell and rolled down the bank while shots were fired.
Wife, niece half-dressed
"I lay still at the bottom of the bank until I heard the cars pulling away,'' he said.
He got help from a security guard who called the police.
When the police picked him up, his wife and niece were half-dressed in the police car.
Advocate Oupa Mashigo appearing for Kasper did not cross-examine the husband.
- Beeld