Pretoria - Disorientation, then blankness – and more than two hours later, Peo Holele had no idea what had happened to her last week.
Holele did not pass out, yet she has no recollection of the time she spent in the company of two strange women at Brooklyn Mall. When she regained her senses, she was in a queue at a grocery store.
Her handbag and cellphone were gone.
Doctors said she had inhaled a concoction of ethane or ethyl chloride, which causes distorted perceptions, short memory loss, slurred speech and hallucinations.
Holele later experienced chills and excessive thirst, usually attributed to someone experiencing a “crash”.
On Monday the 49-year-old operations manager at the South African Revenue Service, retraced her steps at the mall, walking through the shops and detailing the odd events.
“I was in one of the clothing stores at the mall going through some clothes after paying off my account. A shabbily dressed woman who smelled of a strong substance came up to me and we spoke briefly about the clothes.
“Moments after my encounter with the woman, I went to the fitting rooms over there when I started to become disoriented. I had gone to the mall during lunch hour,” she said.
“As I was trying on some clothes, I started to feel dizzy. I thought it was because of the heat or that I did not have breakfast that morning.
“Feeling slightly better after stepping out of the store, the mother of two proceeded to another store where she came across a second woman who also approached her. They also spoke about clothes in the store before leaving.
“I was holding this dress and the woman said she wanted it as well, but it was the last one,” she said.
The woman walked with her to a restaurant to buy ice cream.
However, according to Holele, the woman began repeating herself during the conversation.
“She kept asking me: ‘If I put my bag down on the floor in Mr Price, would anybody attempt to steal it?’
“She asked me this question about four times and at the time, I was feeling confused and wasn’t aware of what was happening.” The two then went to Steers, where they found the first woman eating an ice cream.
“I went inside and bought two ice creams with a R100 note. I remember asking the cashier to give me change with R20 notes.
“ She said everything went downhill from there.
“Soon after the change was placed on the counter, I do not remember the events that followed.
“After that, I found myself in a queue at Checkers; and when I checked the time, it was two hours after I had been with the two women.
“I didn’t have my bag on me, nor did I have my cellphone. They were all gone. But more confusing was the fact that I didn’t know what had happened,” she said.
It appears Holele also gave the women the PIN codes for her bank cards as money was withdrawn at an FNB ATM in Sunnyside hours later.
“Fortunately I do not keep all my eggs in one basket.
“I had R200 in both accounts and it was all taken. My money is in various accounts.”
Holele said she was having difficulty recollecting what transpired that day.
“I went to the doctor and told him about the symptoms and the incident and he said, judging from what I was experiencing, I had inhaled a concoction of ethane or ethyl chloride,” she said.
Attempts to identify the women through the CCTV footage at the centre failed as it was not clear enough.
A case of theft was reported at the Brooklyn police station, and a spokeswoman said the case was unique. She said police were on high alert for incidents of that nature.
Effects of inhaling ethyl chloride or ethane:
Distorted perceptions
Pretoria News