Durban - A man was killed and his accomplice arrested after they hijacked a motorist in Umkomaas.
The motorist, 52, stopped under a tree to answer his cellphone near the Naidooville Primary School on Monday afternoon in Craigieburn. Three men took his Toyota Cressida.
Police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane said the men threatened him with a 9mm pistol. They tried to force him into the back seat but he fought back and ran away.
He saw the hijackers drive off in his car towards the N2 freeway and alerted police on his cellphone. Zwane said the car overturned a few hundred metres from the Umkomaas on-ramp. Three suspects fled through the bush towards Sun Park.
“Police cornered them near the Orrisa Inn in Roseneath. They fired shots at the police while hiding in the bush,” Zwane said. In the exchange of fire, a 38-year-old man was killed. Another was arrested.
The third man fled. The arrested man, Thamsanqa Sanele Mthembu, 24, of KwaMashu, appeared in the Scottsburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
He was remanded in police custody until his next appearance on Tuesday.
Daily News