Good Samaritan 'abused'

2003-05-09 12:57

Bridget Ducasse

Pietermaritzburg - A man who helped catch an armed-robbery suspect has been paid for his good deed with abuse and damage to his car.

The Good Samaritan, Wayne Lundie, said: "We were on our way to Kentucky Fried Chicken for breakfast when we realised that Fidelity guards at the NBS were being held up."

He said he saw the suspects run up to the car park above the shopping centre and tried to chase them to see what car they were driving.

A bakkie with the men on the back came down from the parking lot and Lundie banged on a police car at the intersection to alert the officer.

Lundie said the men jumped off the bakie and then split up.

The police car did a u-turn and chased the bakkie while he chased after two suspects on foot, eventually catching one of them.

Cop denied denting car

"I took the guy to KFC and asked the manager and the security guard to keep him there until I could get the police," said Lundie.

But, he claimed, the manager became abusive, swearing at him, and chasing him and the suspect off the premises.

When he finally handed the suspect to police, there was a struggle and Lundie's car was dented.

"I told the cop he had dented my car. He told me to prove he had done it. This whole situation is ridiculous.

"Those men were armed and I put my life on the line to chase them and I get verbally abused and my car now has a dent in it," said Lundie.

The suspects will appear in court shortly. The manager at the KFC declined to comment, as did the manager of the NBS.

- The Witness