‘They beat alleged hijacker for 30 minutes’
A witness to the severe beating meted out to a would-be hijacker in a Durban street says "they beat him until they had had enough".
|||Durban - Fed up with crime in the area, traders and shopkeepers meted out “people’s justice” to a man after he and an accomplice tried to hijack an 80-year-old man in Monty Naicker Road (Pine Street) on Tuesday.
A video of the attempted hijacking and beating went viral on social media.
Witnesses who spoke to the Daily News on Wednesday said street robberies in the area had spiralled.
They said when they heard the commotion around the old man’s car, people did not think twice about turning the tables on the two alleged hijackers.
The footage shows what appears to be a Toyota Camry parked on the street. Two men approach the car from the driver’s side and wrestle with the driver. The men then pull the man out of the vehicle, shoving him to the ground.
While this is happening, a woman a few metres away sees the assault and rushes to try and fend off the attackers.
In less than a minute, people swarm to her aid, some helping the elderly man, while others pursue the apparent hijackers. One of the men manages to get away, but the other does not.
The crowd, comprised of people from the nearby uMlazi taxi rank and street vendors, begin assaulting the man. A truck transporting a minibus also stops and a man from the truck joins the fray.
At this point, the man is being stomped on and hit with what appear to be sjamboks, sticks and belts. At the end of the 1 minute, 30 seconds of video, an image depicting the badly beaten man is posted.
Dr Ismail Abdoola, who runs a practice near the scene, said the 80-year-old man who nearly became the victim had been on his way to see him for a regular check-up, and that his attackers had been armed with sharp instruments.
“The patient sustained lacerations and was stabbed in the leg. He was emotionally distraught and his wife was also upset.”
The man was not seriously injured though, he said.
“When the taxi guys saw what was happening they went to town with them,” he added.
A street vendor who asked not to be named said: “They beat him until they had had enough. They beat him for 30 minutes... A private service ambulance came to the scene, but the crowd chased the ambulance away. When police came, they had already finished.
“Police wrapped the man in a space blanket,” she added.
It was not yet clear what became of the allegedhijacker, with the police saying the incident had not been officially reported to them.
Spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Shooz Magudulela said he had not received a report of the incident.
“We only became aware of the incident through social media. We advise the driver to open a case at a nearest police station.
“We urge community members to refrain from taking the law into their own hands since it amounts to a criminal act, which is punishable,” he said.
Another vendor said she was happy about what had happened. “These guys will take away your cellphone and stab you for your rings.” She said crime in the area was rampant as whoonga users robbed people in broad daylight.
A shopowner in the street, Nymoa Ulla, said he has been robbed before.
“I’ve been held up in my store numerous times. There is a lot of crime here,” he said.
Mary de Haas, KwaZulu-Natal violence monitor and fellow researcher at the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s School of Law, said mob justice was a consequence of the poor response the public was getting from the criminal justice system.
“Despite three police stations - Broad Street, Dr AB Xuma (Commercial) Street and Albert Park Metro police - being based in town, crime is still a problem. The police stations are around the corner. I don’t blame the police officers but rather poor management structures.
“The police are facing many problems internally which are affecting their outlook and morale down to the ground teams. Sector policing does not exist. The general public have had enough.”
mphathi.nxumalo@inl.co.za
Daily News