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Woman tells of 'humane hijack'
24/11/2006 08:57 - (SA)
Cape Town - A Johannesburg woman held delegates at an international conference spellbound on Thursday with an account of how she was robbed of her car last month by humane hijackers, one of whom even gave her advice on how to avoid being hijacked again in future.
Pauline Nossel, 68, was a member of a "journeys through trauma" panel at the conference, under way at the University of Cape Town, which is looking at the work of the former Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its continuing impact worldwide.
She said she and her husband, who lives in a nursing home, were hijacked by three armed men on the evening of October 11.
She said she was told to get into the back seat of her car, along with two of the hijackers, and keep her head down.
'We're not going to hurt you'
When one of the hijackers felt her sobbing, he assured her: "Don't cry, we're not going to hurt you."
Nossel said she pleaded with the men not to leave them on a deserted road they later stopped on, as her husband could not walk.
The men drove further, then stopped and ordered them to get into a second car, occupied by two men.
The driver of the new car repeated the earlier assurance that the Nossels were not going to be hurt, and apologised for the hijacking, saying they had not realised the couple were elderly, and would not have carried out the robbery had they known.
"At that point I felt a little indignant," Nossel said. "I don't see myself as elderly."
The driver said he would let them go once his companions had found and disabled the tracking device in their car.
Hijacking 'is what we have to do'
As they drove around, the driver asked Nossel about her children, and in response to her questioning, told her about his own three youngsters.
He also complained that he had "no opportunities".
"This [hijacking] is what we have to do," he said. "I have children, a family to support, and I can't get work."
Later he advised her, when she got the insurance payout for her car, to buy a smaller vehicle.
"We're not interested in small cars," he said.
When, after two hours, he received a call to say the tracking device was finally disconnected, the driver asked where he could take the Nossels. She said the nursing home, as her husband needed attention.
When Nossel became nervous and put her head on her husband's shoulder for reassurance, the driver noticed in the rear-view mirror. "He said, I promise you on the life of my child I will not hurt you," she told the conference.
Forgiveness
The man added under his breath: "I hope God forgives me for what I have done."
Nossel said the men dropped her and her husband off only metres from the entrance to the nursing home, ordering them to get out and not look back. It was only once she was inside the building that shock set it.
When a relative told her not to touch the water bottles the hijackers had given her so as not to spoil any fingerprints, she was "reluctant", as she was still "in the spell of their kindness".
Nossel said she did not like what had happened to her and her husband, and that it made her sad that people had to live in fear of such incidents.
She said she understood "how we got here", but felt things could and should be different.
"I'm so sad it has come to this, but it can change, and I have a firm belief that it will," she said.
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