Johannesburg - A squabble over a parking spot has left a woman severely bruised and facing prosecution after she and her alleged assailant laid charges against each other.
The incident over a parking spot took place at Randpark Ridge near a filling station at Beyers Naudé Drive on Saturday. Lineo Ditsebe, 25, was with her sister-in-law.
On Monday, Ditsebe, who is nursing bruises on her face and has black spots on her eyes, recounted her ordeal. The mother of one said she was with her sister-in-law, looking for a parking spot at the filling station. After struggling for find a spot, she saw a group of women standing on the only available parking spot.
She hooted, indicating to them to move out of the way, but they did not. She squeezed her car into the parking spot, which had cones placed around it. That’s when things turned nasty, she said.
“As I parked, one of the boyfriends of the women that were standing at the opened spot approached my car, "shev said. “He started screaming and shouting at me.”
Ditsebe added that another man opened her car door to apologise to her on how his friend was acting towards her. As she switched off her car, the man opened her door. When she got out, the man started screaming at her and became aggressive.
“I was scared for my life as he started threatening me, saying he was going to kill me and put me at the back of my car boot,” Ditsebe said, adding the man had accused her of nearly killing his girlfriend. “He repeatedly said he was going to kill me and put me in the back of my boot. I panicked and used my pepper spray (on him).”
Ditsebe said she then ran into the convenience store for help. She asked a cashier to
call the police, and he said
he had already alerted the security guards using a panic button. As she was waiting in the store, the man came in and, she said, started beating, punching and kicking her.
Ditsebe said people at the garage tried to stop him, but he continued assaulting her. Eventually his friends pulled him away from her. A few minutes later, the police arrived and took her and her alleged assailant to the Honeydew Police Station, where the man was arrested. He was released on bail.
On Sunday, however, Ditsebe was also arrested after the man laid a counter charge against her. She has been released on bail.
Spokesperson for Honeydew police Captain Balan Muthan said they were investigating two cases of assault. Ditsebe was due to appear in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.