My highway hero: Man rescues female car crash victim from 4 robbers
SELFLESS: Hero Gary Aspeling of Edgemead
An Edgemead man proved there are still heroes out there when he risked his life to help a female driver after she had a car accident on the notorious R300 on Saturday night.
Gary Aspeling, 57, managed to chase off the four skelms who robbed the helpless 29-year-old woman, instead of assisting her.
He said he was driving home from a family wedding in Stellenbosch when he noticed the charcoal grey Hyundai i10 standing on the side of the highway.
“I was driving home with my wife and 28-year-old daughter when I saw the car standing on the side of the road near the N1 turn-off and it was smoking,” he says.
“When I pulled up to see what happened, I saw a lady in the driver seat with the airbag deployed and there was smoke coming out of the bonnet, so I ran to go help her.
“I had to ruk open the door to take her out but as I was doing that, a black car pulled up and four guys ran to the car and started taking her stuff.
“I took her out of the car and lay her on the side of the road with my wife and daughter and then I ran to the black car and went on like a mal ding to fight the guys and got her stuff back.”
A marine fitter by profession, Gary says he recovered the woman’s two cellphones, sunglasses and wallet with all of her cards.
He says through all this, people drove past but no one bothered to stop and help them.
“She was alone, so I knew I had to help because that is what we need to do for each other.
“When I saw the guys taking the stuff, I started shouting at them, but my first concern was getting her out.
“Nobody else stopped to help, everybody else just drove past.”
He says when traffic cops arrived on the scene he left, and made contact with her the next day to give her items back.
The young woman from Parow, who did not want to be named, said she was on her way to a friend in Brackenfell when she had an anxiety attack behind the wheel and crashed into a barrier.
“I do not know what happened but I am very grateful that Gary came to help me.
“When I was lying on the ground, his family gave me mouth-to-mouth and now I am home recovering from soft-tissue damage,” she says.
The woman added that an ambulance took her to Kuils River Netcare Hospital, where her family came to fetch her.
She is still waiting for the accident report case number from Brackenfell Police regarding the accident.