Mom's brush with hunted Houdini
2006-12-05 22:55
Johannesburg - She remembers thinking "Don't drink my juice, dude. That's my personal property!"
Although she was tied up by one of South Africa's most-dangerous criminals while her two-year-old daughter watched in their garden flat, she's adamant that she is not a victim.
That's the view of Cameron Meiklejohn, the woman who was robbed of her blue Citi Golf by Annanias Mathe in Johannesburg on Monday.
Mathe escaped from C-Max Prison in Pretoria two weeks ago and was recaptured not long after robbing the Meiklejohns.
Meiklejohn, who is an advertising representative for Media24 family magazines, was in her flat with her daughter, Eryn, when Mathe struck about 06:15.
An hour later, he lay flat on his stomach - with two bullet wounds in his leg - after being tracked to Ivory Park, near Tembisa on the East Rand, and shot by a Netstar vehicle-tracking service employee.
'Funny man's in jail'
Meiklejohn, who was trying to get her belongings back from the police on Tuesday, was relaxed as she spoke about the incident.
"I don't even want to think about what could have happened, because then I feel like a victim, and I refuse to be a victim," she said.
Neither Cameron nor Eryn was hurt during the robbery, but her little girl is very aware of what happened.
"The funny man took the television and mommy's car, but now he is in jail," said Eryn.
Meiklejohn, who woke up on Monday morning staring into Mathe's face, feared she was going to be raped.
"I was still in my pyjamas and he ordered me to lie on the bed, but he just tied my hands with my dressing-gown belt," she said.
Meiklejohn attended a course on how to deal with hijackings recently, "and the only thing I remembered was that they told us repeatedly: 'Obey instructions, obey instructions'," she said.
Mathe apparently was very calm during the robbery.
"If I hear now how dangerous he is and what he has already done, it somehow doesn't make sense.
"He had every opportunity to be violent. Can a person switch violence on and off like that?"
After he tied her up, Mathe unplugged Meiklejohn's TV set and took it to the car.
"He casually unpacked everything that was in my boot before putting the TV in. Then he came to see if all was still well in the bedroom, before he drove off."
She first heard who Mathe was, and what he was wanted for, about midday on Monday.
Meiklejohn can't remember how long Mathe was in her flat, but "it was long enough to drink my juice in the fridge".
"I remember thinking: 'Dude, don't drink my juice. That's my personal stuff!' "
Won't be leaving SA
Meiklejohn says this isn't going to change her life.
She wants to make some changes in her security, but isn't planning anything drastic.
"I don' t want to introduce big changes in Eryn's routine because I'm afraid it may worsen the impact," she said.
"I'm South African and I don't see myself living in another country, so I won't be leaving."