Feisty witness, 78, recounts hijack ordeal
Accompanied by her daughter who sat silently beside her as she testified, a 78-year-old woman told of her terror when jewellery robbers bashed on her car window with a gun.
Testifying in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Monday, the petite yet feisty woman raised a few smiles – especially when presented with a photograph of a gun found in her handbag.
The woman, who is not being named for her own safety, was testifying in the case against four men standing trial for a July 2016 armed robbery and the murder of a bystander.
Permission had been granted for her daughter to sit with her as she testified.
Hijacked outside the Cell C regional offices in Granville Road shortly after five men stormed Fischer’s Jewellers at Greenacres and made off with R600,000 worth of items, the woman said she was so terrified during the ordeal that when ordered to unlock the door of her white VW Polo she could not remember where the door handle was.
She had just left the Cell C office when she noticed three men nearing her car.
“I had a bad feeling so I locked my car and carried on talking to my daughter [on the phone],” she said.
“One of the men came to the driver’s side, the other one to the passenger’s side and the third stayed behind a wall.
“The one on the driver’s side had a gun pointed at me and he told me to unlock the door.
“I was very frightened and threw my phone to the back seat – I don’t know why.
“I was so frightened I didn’t know where the door [handle] was.
“He slammed the gun against the window and shouted to me to open the door.
“I opened the door but the keys were not in the ignition.
“He asked me where they were and I said in my handbag [on the passenger seat].
“I ran to Cell C but the door was locked.
“I saw the people drive past me [in my car].
“The security guard ran after them and fired a shot.
“The doors [of Cell C] then went open and I went inside in a terrible state.”
The woman’s handbag was recovered later that morning from the taxi in which two of the alleged robbers had been found by police.
Fingerprints on the magazine of the Z88 Vektor pistol found in the handbag were allegedly linked through forensic analysis to Lindokuhle January.
January, 21, along with Olwethu Dlanga, 21, Awonke Yako, 20, and Lonwabo Maweni, 42, have pleaded not guilty to all 12 charges against them, including murder, kidnapping and robbery with aggravating circumstances.
January and Dlanga were arrested that same day in a taxi in Schauderville.
Yako was arrested in Westview Drive shortly after the robbery and Maweni was arrested later after DNA evidence allegedly linked him to the crime. A fifth suspect, Xolisa Mantana, died shortly after the incident.
Shown photographs of her handbag and other items recovered after the arrest of January and Dlanga, the woman positively identified a number of items, including a red purse and a lipstick holder.
The woman appeared taken aback when an image of her handbag, containing a blackish-grey firearm, was shown on the display screen in court.
Asked by state prosecutor advocate Zelda Swanepoel if she recognised the firearm, she said: “Well, it isn’t mine.”
Her firm answer raised smiles from those in court.
The woman’s VW Polo was the third vehicle the alleged jewellery store robbers had tried to hijack that morning.
After the robbery, the men attempted to hijack a VW Golf but the driver got away.
Next, they tried to hijack a white Mitsubishi Colt bakkie and shot dead Ronald Goduka, 67, in the process.
The woman’s Polo was found later in Second Avenue, Newton Park, with a single bullet hole in it.
A former Fidelity Security guard, stationed at Cell C on the day of the robbery, confirmed he had fired two shots at the car after he was alerted to the robbery and the subsequent hijacking of the Polo.
The guard is also not being named, for safety reasons.
He told the court that while he was standing at the door of the Cell C offices, a man approached him and pointed a gun at him.
The guard went back inside the offices, cocked his service pistol, pressed the panic button and called his manager.
When he saw the woman being hijacked, he went outside to take down the car’s registration number and the hijackers allegedly fired at him.
The case continues.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
FREE TO READ | Just register if you’re new, or sign in.
Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@heraldlive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.