Rainbow Nation Moment?

Posing as a beggar, the young man turned away from the car, but in a single movement turned back, punching in the front passenger window with a sparkplug. It was like a small explosion which left nothing but a few jagged edges of glass. He plunged into the vehicle and made a grab for the handbag lying on the floor at the feet of the 50-something woman passenger.

Poor choice! The lady had anticipated his move.

Just before the blow landed she’d noticed him casing the interior and had swivelled acrobatically into the Joburg, anti smash-and-grab, kick position. There followed a frantic flailing of arms and legs, accompanied by screaming and hooting. The quick-witted driver (the lady’s daughter who had been through all this a few months before) managed, Houdini-like, to get a grip on the bag and lean on the horn.

Your mild-mannered correspondent was in the back seat lawfully belted in. Uncharacteristically but instinctively, he lunged forward to join the scrum but the seatbelt locked and held him back. Deciding reluctantly that the only thing to do was to try to pull this character off the car from outside, he frantically released the safety belt, and opened the door. At this point our young assailant, who hadn’t managed to wrestle his intended loot from the mother-daughter tag-team, decided to cut his losses and hoofed it in the direction of Yeoville.

Suddenly it was as if half of Yeoville fell upon our smash-and-grab expert, and within a minute he was apprehended in what appeared to be a citizen’s arrest. He got a mere 15 metres from the car before he was dragged back to it handcuffed and surrounded by a swelling, angry crowd. Behind us a Stallion Security vehicle had stopped where the officer was directing the traffic around us. He then promptly called the police.

It later became clear in Yeoville Police station that two Community Forum members had been keeping an eye on that particular junction, and welcomed the opportunity to swoop. The 24-year old would-be robber cut a pathetic figure on the floor of the charge office. He’d been slapped by some of the crowd and the Police weren’t too gentle with him either. A number of officers came into the room to view the suspect, pass comments and also to see this petite person from Boksburg who had fought back and had the cuts and bruises on her legs to prove it!

During the episode one heard the words ‘World Cup’ being muttered angrily several times. Not only did this young man choose the wrong woman to rob, but he also chose the wrong historical moment. Statements were taken. Detectives kept in close contact. Within a few days the suspect was sentenced to two years.

Our little kickboxer from Boksburg was later chided because ‘he might have been armed’. But the people who gathered to see the handcuffed attacker, and the Police who dealt with the case, took obvious satisfaction in the fact that she had resisted.

It’s gratifying not to have been another victim of crime, but the arrest would have been impossible without the help of the community forum and other members of the public. The crowd was obviously on our side and one had a strong sense of its warm protectiveness. !ke e: ixarra //ke (Khoisan: Unity is strength – see National Coat of Arms). Perhaps we’re slowly realising it.