Primary school kids robbed on bus
2006-06-16 23:29
Christel Raubenheimer
Pretoria - A group of pupils, some of them primary school kids, have been robbed on a municipal bus in Pretoria.
The children - most of them from Stephanus Roos primary school in Sinoville - had just boarded the bus and were on their way home.
Those on the upper deck were confronted by two men.
One of them prevented the kids from going down to alert the driver, while the other forced the children to hand over their cellphones.
Ancabe Krebs, 13, saw that the one robber's jacket wasn't buttoned up.
"I could see a gun.
"He took it out and asked one of the children for his cellphone."
A boy who said
he didn't have a phone was hit in the face with the firearm.
"In future, I'll sit on the lower deck of the bus," she said.
Bentie Rademan also warned her daughter Rocehelle, 10, not to sit on the upper deck in the bus in future.
"Our children who have to make use of the bus are soft targets.
"It seems to me we will have to ask for security guards or police on the buses," Rademan said.
Rochelle did not have her cellphone with her.
"I heard a sound like the flick of a lighter and then saw the weapon against the boy's head.
"However, there was no magazine in the weapon - only a gaping hole.
Hanu Krause, 9, said he wasn't too afraid because he was convinced that the Lord would watch over them.
"Most of the children cried when they got of the bus.
"One could see they were stressed," he said.
After robbing the kids, the two men casually got off the bus and sauntered away.
- Beeld