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Couple tell of hijack hell
17/01/2007 08:04 - (SA)
Nivashni Nair
Pietermaritzburg - A couple will have to undergo trauma counselling after a night of horror when they were hijacked by three men, forced to teach one of the hijackers to drive their car and then were badly injured when the car slammed into a bank on Chota Motala (Old Greytown) Road.
The drama began on Friday night, minutes after an Orient Heights man was shot in Paradise Drive and now police believe the same perpetrators attacked Kavith Harilal, 24, and his girlfriend in Newland Road in Allandale.
Harilal told The Witness on Tuesday that the incident began at about 22:30.
"We were sitting in the car when three men approached and opened our doors."
"They were heavily armed with guns and knives. They stood at our doors and then started to grab at my girlfriend's jewellery. That was when I grabbed one of their arms and then the one guy standing at my door pulled out a knife and attempted to stab me."
Attackers couldn't drive
"I ducked and then they started breaking our chains and taking our jewellery. They then started to dismantle the radio," he said.
The couple were told to get out of the vehicle and were searched again. "I thought they were going to let us go but then they found my house keys. They told my girlfriend to get into the back of the car so I jumped in too. The men got into the car and then I realised they didn't know how to drive. They asked me how to start a car and then drove off very badly," he said.
They were driven down Manual Road and then Khan Road while the hijackers questioned them.
"Since they had my house keys, they kept asking which was our house. We lied that we didn't live close by. When we got to Khan Road, the car nearly collided with many cars and I started to wonder whether the man was drunk or just couldn't drive. I realised he obviously didn't know how to drive because the car remained in first gear since we left Newland Road," Harilal said.
He was asked if he had any money in his bank account but lied that the R850 that he had in his wallet was the only cash he possessed.
"There were several times when we nearly smashed into oncoming traffic."
"When he passed the turn into the quarry, he realised he missed it yet attempted to take it anyway. That was when the car veered off the road and slammed into the bank. I jumped in front of my girlfriend to protect her," he said.
When the car had completely stopped, Harilal realised that the man sitting next to him had dropped his firearm.
Concerned for his girlfriend
The men were badly injured and Harilal decided not to point the gun at them, in case they had another firearm. The men managed to free themselves and ran off.
Harilal and his girlfriend were assisted by men who were fixing a flat tyre on the same road.
"We were so shaken up that my girlfriend thought it was the same men. When these guys came forward to help I told them I had a gun and then they explained that they wanted to help us."
Harilal was treated for facial lacerations, a deep cut on his knee and chest and back injuries. His girlfriend was treated for a severe cut above her eye.
"At the time I wasn't thinking about whether we would survive or what to do."
"My only concern was that they would rape or kill my girlfriend. I just could not imagine that," Harilal said.
Police have taken fingerprints, blood samples and the weapons from the vehicle.
Superintendent Joshua Gwala said the men are still at large.
- The Witness
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