Pietermaritzburg - Two sisters screamed in terror as they were being robbed in Prestbury on Thursday morning.
Chené Viljoen (17) and her sister Priscilla Viljoen (16) were on their way back from walking their younger sister to Prestbury Primary School when they were confronted by two men who pulled a knife on them and forced Priscilla to give them her tablet.
The sisters said they walked past these men who were sitting on the railway bridge on Stott Road. “We didn’t pay any attention to them,” Chené said.
As the sisters walked up Boyd Road they noticed that the men were walking behind them. “We still didn’t make anything of it,” they said.
The sisters then turned into Brand van Zyl Road where they stopped to pick some fruit off a tree. When they looked behind them they saw the two men running towards them. “It was too late for us to run away,” Chené said.
One of the robbers grabbed Priscilla and tried to take her tablet from her hands. “I did not let go of the tablet,” Priscilla said.
The man then took out a knife from his pocket and put it to Priscilla’s chest. “We screamed frantically and I was so terrified I let go of the tablet,” Priscilla said.
The two men then ran off with the tablet. According to the girls, the men ran down O’Brien Road.
The girls just stood there, shocked and petrified until a woman who was driving a white VW Polo stopped beside them. “She asked us what was going on,” Chené said. They then told the woman what had just happened. The woman said the girls must jump into her car. She drove the girls to the Prestbury police station where a case was opened.
The sisters’ father, Terence Viljoen, said he is happy that his daughters were unharmed.
“I would also like to thank the kind woman who assisted my daughters,” he said. Terence added that he would like to thank the Prestbury Crime Watch group who also assisted the girls.
A woman from Marwick Road, some way off, heard the girls screaming from her home.
“I realised there was something terribly wrong. It was so worrying, but I had no idea where the sound was coming from. Eventually via the Prestbury chat group we heard what had happened.”
Pietermarizburg police spokesperson Sergeant Mthokozisi Ngobese said the matter is under investigation.
