Durban - A Queensburgh woman was not going to go down without a fight when she was set upon by thieves while she waited in her car for the traffic lights to change.
Daineel Brits, 59, had been on her way home from Kloof, where she works as a paralegal, and had stopped on the St John’s bridge, Pinetown.
She had her windows half open because of the heat.
She noticed two teenage boys walking past her between cars.
“The next moment one of them slapped me, knocking my glasses on to the passenger seat. I felt their hands on my throat and shoulders.”
Instinct took over and she began to fight back. “It was a hand wrestling and slapping session. I put my head down and just started slapping.
“It happened so fast. They tried to grapple with me. I am lucky they did not open the car door and drag me out.”
The thieves managed to snatch her watch, which was a Christmas present, before fleeing through the traffic. But they were unable to grab her ring and her neck chain, which Brits felt they were after.
It was only after her ordeal was over that she realised she was bleeding slightly from a cut to her nose, and also had bruises and scratches on her arms and shoulders.
She has refused to let last Thursday’s incident get to her mentally, opting instead to warn other motorists to be aware at traffic lights.
Raymond Moore of Queensburgh Security told the Daily News that if people felt unsafe, they should sound their hooter and put their hazard lights on as it might scare the culprits.
Most incidents were going unreported, said Moore, who had heard of three smash-and-grab incidents at the M7 and N2 intersections this week.
Police spokesman Colonel Jay Naicker confirmed a separate case of a vehicle smash and grab this week, in Bellair.
Daily News