“They started hacking off my hand with a broken bottle. When they took my gun, I thought I was dead.”
Those were the thoughts that ran through the mind of a Uitenhage businessman who narrowly avoided death when he was violently hijacked earlier this week.
Speaking from his bed at St George’s Hospital, the 60-year-old engineering business owner described how he was ambushed by two men on the R334 between Coega and Motherwell at midday on Monday.
“I am lucky to be alive. This attack has made me reflect on life and has put a lot of things into perspective for me.
“If it was not for the Swartkops police and the medic who was at the police station at that moment, I would be dead now,” the shaken man said on Wednesday.
The man, who did not want to be named, left work in Uitenhage at midday on Monday to take a slow drive in his Volkswagen Amarok bakkie to Sundays River.
“I wanted to clear my head. I went for a drive and was probably going to stop in at a relative in Sundays River.
“About a kilometre from the crossing [where the R335 and R334 roads meet], I saw rubble and building material blocking the lane.
“As I slowed down to go around it, I was ambushed.
“I saw was something out of the corner of my eye and the next thing I was being stabbed in the head [through the open driver’s window],” he said.
“As they were stabbing me, I tried to hold my arm up to defend myself and block my face. It just all happened so quickly.”
Within seconds, both attackers were inside the vehicle – stabbing the man from behind.
“They kept shouting ‘give me money, give me the phone’.
“They stopped for a short moment when they grabbed my wallet and looked inside.
“They took the R50 out and threw the wallet back at me.
“I told them I had more money and reached for the centre console and grabbed my gun,” he said.
“I managed to put a bullet in the chamber, but as soon as they saw the gun, all hell broke loose. They managed to pin my arms down and tried to get the gun out of my hand.
“But I knew if I let go, they would kill me.”
A scuffle ensued and the man’s hands were pinned down on the passenger seat.
He managed to get two shots off – hitting one of the robbers in the hand.
“They were going crazy. They then started hacking off my arm with the broken bottle to get the gun.
“I was watching as they chopped away at my arm.
“As they hit an artery and the tendons in my arm, the blood started spraying everywhere and I let the gun go.
“At that moment, I thought I was dead.”
The robbers then forced him into the back of the bakkie.
“I managed to take my shirt off and wrap it around my arm to try to stop the bleeding. They then drove on a dirt road.
“For some reason, they stopped and one ran to the tar road [which runs parallel to the dirt road].
“I then knew this was my chance, if I didn’t do anything I was dead,” he said.
He jumped out the bakkie and ran down the road and the robbers abandoned the vehicle and gave chase.
“I saw they were trying to head me off.
“I was leaking blood everywhere and they were much faster than me.
“I stopped for a second and saw that they were trying to run ahead to cut me off.
“I then ran back to the bakkie and saw the keys in the ignition. It was such a massive relief to see the keys in the ignition,” he said.
In a panic, the man sped off to the Swartkops police station.
“Because of the blood loss, I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness.
“All I knew was that I had to get there,” he said.
Once there, the man stopped and hooted for help.
In a stroke of luck, a medic who was filling in an accident report form ran to assist.
“It was the most scary situation I have ever been in.
“I literally saw my life flash before my eyes.”
Asked what he was going to do when discharged, the man laughed and said: “I am going to go home and open a bottle of red wine.”
Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said detectives were following up all leads.