This woman fears getting back on a train after she was hit by a rock thrown through a broken window.
Marlene Thaver, 52, was on her way home when the large piece of concrete struck her shoulder.
The Mitchells Plain woman says she and other Metrorail commuters had to duck and dive as their carriage was pelted between Nyanga and Philippi station on Monday afternoon.
Marlene says: “There were no windows anywhere in the carriage and there were no seats, we had to sit on the steel frames.
“I was travelling home from my daughter [in Maitland] on a Kapteinsklip train.
“Between Nyanga and Philippi station we heard the first stone hit the train. Then a short while later the second one flew threw the [broken] window in the door and hit my shoulder.
“I was lucky it didn’t hit my face,” says the relieved woman.
Marlene, who travels between Mitchells Plain and Maitland twice a week, says this is a regular occurrence, but it’s the first time she has been hurt.
“I don’t know if it’s children or grown-ups throwing the stones but this always happens,” she says.
“If there were windows the rock would obviously hit the window. Everyone had to watch out because you don’t know when or where the rocks are coming from.
“That rock hit me with such force.”
Marlene, who still has the rock, says she could not report the matter when she went to the Metrorail office in Mitchells Plain.
“I was in too much pain so I only went to the station [yesterday] but they didn’t have [incident report] forms so I was told to come back.”
Marlene has vowed to leave no stone unturned to bring the culprits to book.
Metrorail’s Zino Mihi says there was no record of the incident.
“We can only start to investigate once the matter has been reported,” she says.