Durban - A section of Durban’s Florida Road was closed for a few hours on Tuesday after a father and daughter were robbed by men with guns in broad daylight.
The robbers declined the offer of an iPhone but instead got away with a small handbag containing a measly R10.
The victims, who asked for their identities not to be revealed, were attacked by four gun-wielding men as the 44-year-old father dropped off his daughter, 19, for her afternoon shift at an ice-cream shop in Florida Road at about 1pm.
The woman said her father had picked her up from their Overport home for her 1pm-7pm shift when the attack happened.
“They seemed to come out of nowhere,” her father said.
“I parked my car, and the next thing these guys were next to me.”
Three men, two of them carrying firearms, jumped out of the car demanding cash. The father said his head was down during the ordeal and he “did not see much”.
The woman said the robber instructed her to give him the “small bag” she had across her chest. Her father was hit on the back of the head with the butt of a gun.
The gang then fired about four shots in the air and left.
The father’s white clothing had bloodstains all over it and he had been bandaged by paramedics who responded to the attack.
His daughter said her bag had nothing significant except her phone charger, perfume, earphones and a R10 note. She said the attack had left her deeply traumatised.
“When it happened, I was more concerned whether they were going to shoot us or not,” she said.
Police spokesman Jay Naicker said the police were investigating a case of attempted murder and robbery.
Blue Security operations manager Brian Jackson said the robbers had been driving a black Mercedes Benz with blue police lights.
He said they had apparently been following the victims from a bank and assumed they had withdrawn a large sum of money.
The victims, however, said they had come straight from home.
The Mercury