2 arrested for deadly hijacking

2009-01-08 11:37

Pretoria - Two men have been arrested for shooting dead a man whose wife they were attempting to hijack in Soshanguve, Pretoria police said on Thursday.

Captain Solly Marindi said the couple were returning home from a friend's house in the early hours of New Year's Day when three men accosted them in their driveway.

"The woman got home first in an Isuzu 4X4 and unbeknown to the robbers who were trying to hijack her, the husband had been driving closely behind," Marindi said.

It was while busy with the woman that her husband drove in, prompting the alleged hijackers to abandon the 4X4 and go for the Opel Corsa driven by the man.

Shot twice

"They instructed the man to lie down and shot him twice with a hunting rifle," Marindi said.

The alleged hijackers then drove away with the man's Opel Corsa, which they later stripped of the radio and speakers, selling them to a resident in another section of Soshanguve.

"When news of the hijacking spread in the township, a resident informed police that another resident in the area had just bought a car radio and speakers... that led us to the robbers," he said.

Two of the men were arrested on Wednesday night. They took police to houses where they had hid the gun used in the shooting, as well as a gun used to intimidate the murdered man's wife.

"They gave the guns to two men aged 24 and 26 when they heard police were on their track but those men were also arrested this morning (Thursday) for possession of the firearms," he said.

The two firearms were found to have been stolen during a December housebreaking incident in the area.

The two alleged hijackers will face charges of murder, hijacking, illegal possession of firearms and housebreaking when they appear in the Soshanguve Magistrate's Court.

Their accomplice is still at large but the two men who helped hide the firearms will appear in the same court for illegally possessing the weapons.

- SAPA