Wild West chase ends in hijack

2008-05-28 22:55

Henry Cloete

Bloemfontein - A robbery at a popular shopping centre ended in a wild car chase, a shootout and a hijacking.

It all began when a woman's handbag was stolen in the parking lot of the Checkers centre in Fleurdal.

Martinette van Rensburg, owner of the Crazy Daisy home industry in the centre, was threatened by an armed man and his accomplice and robbed of her handbag, said Superintendent Annelie Wrensch.

Two brothers, Andries and Trevor Nonyane, who were at the centre, saw the bag-snatch and went after the robbers immediately.

Brian le Gassick, 62, stopped next to the brothers in his Toyota Corolla and told them to get in so that they could chase the robbers together.

Wrensch said one of the robbers jumped into a taxi and escaped.

The three men in the car chased the other robber who ran across Curie Lane and between some houses.

Shot out two car windows

Le Gassick said they cornered the robber in a park: "I swerved when I saw him pulling out a firearm. I turned at an angle and he fired three shots.

"Two of my car windows were shot out and Andries was shot in the head."

Andries Nonyane was grazed by the bullet and was treated in the National Hospital on Wednesday.

Andries said: "When he fired, I ducked, but he still hit me. I feel very dizzy," and showed where the bullet had grazed the back of his head.

Le Gassick's vehicle also had a bullet hole in the bodywork.

He said the robber then fled.

Jas van Wyk was moving rubble with his bakkie when he heard shots being fired in the park near his house.

Van Wyk said: "He came in this direction and I saw he had a firearm in his hand. The bakkie's passenger door was open. He jumped in and threatened to shoot me if I didn't drive."

They sped through the city with the Corolla behind them and they stopped at the National Hospital.

Kept on threatening

The robber jumped out of the bakkie and escaped.

Van Wyk said the robber had kept on threatening him and told him to drive faster. "One doesn't know what was going through the man's head. Mercifully, he didn't shoot."

Wrensch said charges of attempted murder, hijacking and armed robbery were being investigated and that the robbers were still on the loose.

- Volksblad