'I wasn't trying to be a hero'
2007-09-27 14:48
Cape Town - A 63-year-old car salesman had a narrow escape on Tuesday after a test-drive in a BMW Z4 nearly turned deadly as a would-be client tried to hijack the vehicle.
A relieved Charles Maltby spoke to News24 on Thursday about the attack, saying he was glad the man had been caught. The would-be hijacker was arrested by an alert off-duty metro cop who gave chase.
Maltby, who was stabbed in the hand and needed 20 stitches, has since earned the nickname "Chuck" from colleagues at Auto Atlantic BMW on the Foreshore for putting up a brave fight.
"He (the would-be hijacker) came in, saying his car had been hijacked and he wanted to buy a new one," he told News24. "Normally you're required to show your driver's licence and ID before test-driving a car. But he claimed his had been stolen in the hijacking, and asked if I'd drive him around.
'Should've been more suspicious'
"I told the office and we left, I guess I should've been a little more suspicious."
Maltby drove the man to Searle street at about 16:10 and made a U-turn to return to Hertzog Boulevard. "He fiddled in his pocket and I thought he was getting his phone. The next minute he pulled out a canister of pepper spray and sprayed it in my face," he said.
In an attempt to defend himself, Maltby grabbed at the canister and the two started wrestling. "He pulled out a Stanley knife and tried to stab me," said Maltby. "I used my other hand to defend myself and that's when he stabbed me in the hand."
The blade of the knife broke off in his hand but Maltby said the pain from the pepper spray was so unbearable, he didn't even feel the knife. "I was burning all over."
Maltby added that had the man said it was a hijacking, he would've handed the car over without a struggle. "That's what we're trained to do," he said. "But he attacked me so I had to do something.
"I wasn't trying to be a hero, I was just trying to defend myself."
At one point during the tussle, Maltby smeared his blood over the man's face. "I said: 'You want my blood? Here'. He didn't look too pretty! He had more blood on him than I did."
Eventually the man told Maltby that he'd kill him if he didn't hand the car over. "I got out of the car and stood at the traffic lights trying to wave cars down," he said.
An off-duty metro cop, Lewellen Saayman, stopped and the two gave chase, apprehending the suspect as he struggled to pull away (after breaking the knob off the gear lever). "We caught him and he was arrested."
"I'm happy we got him," said Maltby.