A deaf woman screaming “Ramaphosa is giving us free food” was found in a truck that had been hijacked.
Police say the drama started minutes earlier when three skelms held a truck driver at gunpoint in Khetelo Street in Bloekombos and robbed him of his money.
Police spokesman Captain FC Van Wyk says the circumstances surrounding the truckjacking is under investigation by Kraaifontein SAPS.
“According to reports the driver and his passenger of a well-known milk distributor were delivering products to a shop in Khethelo Street, Bloekombos, Kraaifontein on Wednesday, 20 May at 2.50pm when they were pushed inside the back of the truck by three armed unknown males.
“The robbers drove off with the truck, but the truck was cornered by alert members of Kraaifontein SAPS a few minutes later.
“The suspects jumped out of the truck and fled on foot. The police managed to arrest a 24-year-old male suspect.
“The other two suspects managed to escape with an undisclosed “amount of cash as well as a cellular telephone.”
SCENE: A 24-year-old suspect was arrested for ‘hijacking’ a food truck in Bloekombos.
But according to a witness, the diewe had asked a passerby whether he could drive the truck, and thinking he had scored a job for the day, the man agreed.
“They stopped the man and offered him R400 to drive the truck while they started selling the groceries from the back, where the driver and the guard lay tied up and hidden,” says the resident.
“When the police came there was a big auntie with a pink dress in the back. We don’t know how she even got in there.
“She was shouting the whole time, ‘Ramaphosa is giving us free food today’ and people took of the food.”
“They ran off with a lot of money that they stole from the driver and people paid them for the food,” says the witness.
“The police came and arrested the ‘new’ driver even though he tried to explain what had happened, they thought he was part of the gang.
STASH: The products inside the truck
“They also wanted to arrest the auntie, but her family ran home to get her hearing aid and she then explained to police that she got into the truck because she heard it was free food and she was very hungry.
“They let her go.”
Van Wyk says the arrested suspect will appear in the Blue Downs Regional Court today.