Johannesburg - A would-be thief was stuck in a car he was trying to steal from when its auto-lock function kicked in - trapping him inside.
The man used a jamming device to access the car while its owner went to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
When Nosipho Mckay left her BMW 3 series parked in Pretorius Street, she would not have known that she would return to find a thief - who pretended to be one of the many car guards in the city centre - locked inside.
The suspect had been in the car for more than an hour-and-a-half before Mckay was contacted and asked to come to unlock the car.
Passers-by and onlookers were amused, pointing and laughing at the suspect.
A witness, Miriam Molefe, a trader in Pretorius Street, said she had seen car guards breaking into cars. “I am not sure what he had in his hand, I didn’t see it.
I just saw him getting into the car after the woman walked away,” Molefe said.
“It seems the doors locked him inside and he couldn’t get out,” she said. At this point, the suspect panicked, attracting the attention of onlookers.
About 15 minutes later, the car was swarmed by pedestrians, and police arrived on the scene.
Mckay was stunned and in disbelief to find the suspect in her car.
She yelled, “What are you doing in my car?” before unlocking it. Officers from Pretoria Central police station promptly arrested him.
The Star