A Saturday evening drive home turned into a nightmarish experience for two Delville pensioners, when they were attacked on the highway.<\/p>\n
William (69) and Woolbridge (70) Gilbert were travelling home on the N3 highway, at about 9.15pm, last Saturday.<\/p>
They had just passed the Van Buuren Road off-ramp and were heading towards the Cydonia Road bridge when they noticed a car on the left side of the road and then hit a rock.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rock had deflected off the man\u2019s vehicle into our lane and my wife couldn\u2019t avoid it; there were cars in the lane next to us, so we couldn\u2019t move,\u201d said William.<\/p>
The rock smashed their car\u2019s sump and damaged other parts of the vehicle.<\/p>\n
The airbags deployed and the car was filled with gas and powder from them.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told my wife to pull over and we got out of the car to let out all the fumes,” William explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cWoolbridge was using her cellphone to call someone for assistance, and I went to have a look at all the oil that was spilling from the car.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of a sudden there was a man in dark clothing next to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe produced a gun and told me to give him all our money.\u201d<\/p>\n
William did not take kindly to this request and told the man to get lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point things got a bit crazy,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man pointed the pistol at my chest and fired, but it just clicked; he then repeated this two more times, but both times the gun just clicked.\u201d<\/p>\n
The assailant then went for Woolbridge and tried to wrestle her cellphone from her.<\/p>\n
She pushed him and William began to chase him.<\/p>\n
The man grabbed Woolbridge\u2019s handbag from the car and ran off across the highway.<\/p>\n
William gave chase, but he couldn\u2019t climb over the barrier over which the assailant had jumped.<\/p>\n
\u201cI returned to my wife and she pointed out people with torches in the trees on the opposite side of the highway,” he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were obviously going through her handbag.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few moments later a police car stopped next to the couple and William dashed to the vehicle, to tell the police what had happened.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told them we had been attacked and that the man had tried to shoot me,\u201d William said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI also pointed out the torches in the trees and told them that that was where the assailant was.\u201d<\/p>\n
William was shocked and disappointed by the SAPS\u2019s response.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said nothing, they didn\u2019t get out of their vehicle and they didn\u2019t call for back-up or anything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe that the police were not going to do anything at all to assist us.\u201d<\/p>\n
When a tow truck arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, to assist the man who had originally hit the rock, the police just drove away.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey just disappeared into the night, leaving us to fend for ourselves,\u201d William said.<\/p>\n
William then spoke to the man who had originally hit the rock and he said that the assailant had tried to rob him, too.<\/p>\n
During the course of the pensioners\u2019 ordeal a young man driving a silver car also stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to thank this young gentleman for his great act of kindness,\u201d William said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe stood with my wife and \u2018guarded\u2019 her until we could tow the car away.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very brave and we thank him from the bottom of our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple arranged for their car to be towed home and then they went to Pretoria to stay with family for the night.<\/p>\n
The next day William and his step-son-in-law, Wynand Britz, returned to the scene where they had seen the torches the night before, and found Woolbridge\u2019s handbag.<\/p>\n
The only thing missing from it was her ID book.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very angry with the police for not helping us that evening,\u201d William said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this type of service is beyond bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should rather have security companies patrolling the highways; at least we know they would do something to assist.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a police force; they do not have a calling to their work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Both William and Woolbridge have decided to go for counselling after their ordeal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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