A Crawford couple has accused Athlone SAPS of being slapgat after three cops failed to chase after their hijackers, minutes after they were attacked in front of their home.
Sakeena Banderker, 37, and husband Ashfak Mohamed, 41, say the incident in Church Street took place at about 11pm on Friday.
Security camera footage of the attack, which was over in 50 seconds, went viral on chat groups on Monday.
Sakeena says: “Our driveway doesn’t allow me to get out (inside the yard) because it is a narrow driveway, so he stops halfway in the road.
“My husband pulled in and I heard him put the car in reverse, which is unlike him so I turned around and I saw this white Toyota [Corolla] stop opposite our house and I saw three guys with guns running towards us.”
She says the four skelms held a gun to her husband’s head.
“I told them ‘please just take the car or whatever you want’. Then the one rukked me and told me to give the phones.
“I rukked back but thought no, my life is not worth it, so I threw the bag.”
She says the skelms forced them into the house and “they casually drove out of our driveway like it was their car”.
She says the 2008 black VW Golf 5 is still missing and described the skelms as “decent black guys who were well-dressed and well-spoken.”
She says minutes after the robbery, Ashfak flagged a patrolling police van and urged them to chase after the skelms.
“The three officers said ‘no sir, we need to take a statement’. We sat for an hour giving a statement.”
Sakeena says she heard her car was used in another hijacking in Bridgetown over the weekend.
“Had they done their job, they could have prevented another hijacking. Their attitude was, ‘are you insured? So it’s OK’.
“Besides the stuff we lost, it’s the trauma. My husband has not been sleeping and we had to take off work.”
Sakeena says she received a call from a woman to say her empty wallet had been found at a primary school in Khayelitsha.
The couple says their cellphones, IDs, drivers licences, medical aid cards and house keys were taken.
Sergeant Zita Norman from Athlone SAPS says a case of hijacking has been opened for investigation with no arrests yet.
She confirmed that the station commander Colonel Markus Mbangu met with the couple yesterday regarding their complaint about the slapgat cops who took their statements.
Anyone with information about the hijacking can contact Detective Sergeant Keith Poggenpoel on 021 697 9238.
marsha.dean@inl.co.za