Another smash-and-snatch attempt foiled

A traumatised couple say they are now too scared to drive on Jakes Gerwel Drive after their two-year-old daughter was almost snatched from their car. Picture: Independent Media

A traumatised couple say they are now too scared to drive on Jakes Gerwel Drive after their two-year-old daughter was almost snatched from their car. Picture: Independent Media

Published Jul 26, 2017

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Cape Town - A second incident of child snatching at a notorious smash-and-grab hotspot on the Cape Flats has been reported to police.

Just days after a Mitchells Plain family told of their shocking ordeal, a couple from Surrey Estate has approached the Daily Voice to say they have experienced a similar nightmare situation, in what they fear could be a worrying new criminal trend.

The traumatised couple from Surrey Estate say they are now too scared to drive on Jakes Gerwel Drive after their two-year-old daughter was almost snatched from their car in January.

The young couple, who asked not to be named, say they got a fright when they read the Daily Voice on Monday and saw what happened to Mitchells Plain couple Denise Wessels and Byron Adonis over the weekend.

Denise and Byron said on Saturday

Isabella Rose at the Bluegum intersection on Jakes Gerwel Drive between Bonteheuwel and Langa.

Isabella was in Byron’s arms when a thug broke their window and tried to grab her.

A man tried to grab Isabella, 3, from her dad, Byron, in traffic on Jakes Gerwel Drive. Picture: Monique Duvval/Daily Voice

The Surrey Estate couple say their incident happened on 15 January, on their daughter’s second birthday, as they were travelling home.

The mother explains: “It was my daughter’s birthday and we were travelling from Goodwood. My husband was driving, I was sitting in front and my daughter was in the car seat at the back. I was a victim of a smash and grab incident so we don’t keep anything [of value] in the car.”

The couple say as they approached the Jakkalsvlei Avenue intersection, a man appeared at the front passenger window “out of nowhere”.

He peered into the car and then went to the back window which he smashed to pieces and then tried to grab the little girl.

Glass splinters hit the child in her face and the mother jumped into the back seat to protect her daughter.

“The man went right for her. He grabbed her under the arms and I just held on,” the mom says.

Meanwhile, her shocked husband put his foot down to try and get away but rear-ended a stationary taxi and then skidded past another car.

“I jumped a couple of robots just to get away. But the taxi followed me. At the time we didn’t know if the taxi driver was involved but it turned out that he thought we were running away from the accident scene,” says the dad.

The couple say the taxi driver blocked their vehicle near the entrance to Vangate Mall and in a panic, the mother says she grabbed her bleeding toddler to show the driver that they were not trying to run away but that their child had been in danger.

Several other motorists also stopped and police were called to the scene.

The father reported the matter the next day at the Bonteheuwel satellite station and the case was transferred to Bishop Lavis Police Station.

He says after receiving no response he contacted police and they gave him a case number which he used to claim from his insurance.

However, police on Tuesday told the Daily Voice the case number is that of another complainant for an assault case.

“This makes no sense, it is the number they gave me,” the father says.

City of Cape Town director for Traffic Services and Law Enforcement, Robbie Robberts, said on Tuesday he has consulted several officials about the first case but no one was aware of it.

He says they are now investigating both cases in earnest.

“We were shocked the first time and we are shocked the second time. The normal procedure is for the investigating officer to make a request for the footage.

“We then go to the date and time, track the incident and provide the footage. In some cases we can obtain the suspect’s face which is also then given to police.”

Daily Voice

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