'They drove over me'

2003-08-08 22:51

Lizel Steenkamp

Johannesburg - Desmond Solms has a broken nose, his face is full of scratches, his left arm's skin has been torn off and he has three broken ribs... but he's alive, three days after starting a new job.

Transit robbers drove over the 35-year-old security guard after they ordered him to lie on the ground next to the hijacked Coin Security armoured vehicle.

"I lay down on my stomach next to the vehicle. I heard the car leave and the next instant I felt this terrible jolt. The left front tyre crushed my face and chest into the road."

The car dragged Solms five metres along the road. They used the car as get-away vehicle from the Woodmead crime scene near Midrand.

"The rear wheel couldn't get over me. I heard how the robber was trying to put the car in reverse. They wanted to drive over me again."

With blood streaming down his face, Solms crawled out from underneath the car and took shelter under the armoured vehicle, waiting until the robbers sped away.

Barricaded

The drama began shortly after Solms and his colleague went to fetch money at the Vodacom golf course and the robbers barricaded the single road with their car.

The men surrounded us with AK-47 rifles. I reversed into the bakkie of another group of robbers and we were trapped."

Meanwhile a hail of gunfire was raining on the two guards inside the armoured vehicle.

"The robbers surrounded the vehicle, pushed the rifles against the windows and shouted at us to get out. There wasn't even time to be afraid."

They took two money containers and a service pistol before leaving.

"The robbers behaved in a military fashion. The way they acted and carried their fire-arms, convinced me that they had been trained. Everyone knew exactly what to do. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that they would kill me if I didn't do what they said."

Solms underwent a nose operation in the Sunninghill clinic in Johannesburg on Friday afternoon.

- Beeld