A city couple narrowly escaped death when they drove straight into an ambush last week.
Relating the frightening experience, a shaken Margaret Gray told of their night-time ordeal just off the Krugersdorp highway.
"My husband, Vance, and I had just taken the Sandton-Hartbeespoort Dam off-ramp on the Krugersdorp highway when we saw a massive tanker with a trailer attached to it parked in the middle of the road."
"The driver looked like he had tried to make a U-turn over the middle island, so its lights were facing us and the driver kept on flashing us. The truck's hazards were also on, which immediately made us think there was a problem," said Gray.
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| 'I clearly remember looking him directly in the eye.' |
She said her husband slowed down for fear of approaching an accident scene, but "thankfully" left the car in second gear.
"My husband did not want to come to a complete stop, so he only went into second gear which I think saved our lives," she said.
The Grays, who were travelling in a minibus, crawled past the truck parked on the R511 when Margaret saw something she will never forget.
"There is long grass all around that area and from the corner of my eye I saw something. I turned to look properly and saw a man come dashing towards us with an AK-47 in his hand. It sounds strange but, even though it all happened in seconds, I clearly remember looking him directly in the eye. As I did that he raised the gun and aimed it at us," said Gray.
She shouted at her husband to get down and "put foot" as she slid to the car floor.
| 'As Vance accelerated we heard one shot go off' |
"As Vance accelerated we heard one shot go off."
"We just carried on driving and I panicked that maybe he had hit one of our tyres and that there might be a second group waiting further up the road who would stop us," she said.
But the shot did not hit the car and there was no second group waiting.
"I immediately phoned the police. When they got there absolutely everything had been removed. How on earth do you move such a big truck so quickly and not leave a trace?" asked Gray.
The Grays did not get much sleep after their ordeal and kept on rehashing the night's events and how "damn well" it was planned.
"I kept on seeing that man's face in my mind. I honestly believe God kept us under his protection," said Gray.
Speaking of the R511, Gray said the road was in a terrible condition with no road signs or warnings of sharp bends. The "Death Road", as it has been dubbed by police, apparently claims lives on a frequent basis and several accidents occur weekly.
Police Inspector Anton Breedt could not confirm that the incident had occurred. He did, however, warn motorists that if they were to come across such an incident, they should continue driving and not stop and report any stationary truck to their nearest police station.
Breedt said the modus operandi witnessed by the Grays was not common.
- This article was originally published on page 3 of Pretoria News on May 03, 2004
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