Durban - A nurse believes she is lucky to be alive after being shot in a hijacking attempt.
It was the third such incident at Westcliff, in Chatsworth, this year. Speaking from her hospital bed, the 24-year-old woman, who asked that she not be named, said she had not seen the gun in the hands of her would-be hijacker.
She had stopped at a traffic light at the Unit Three turn-off on Friday evening when the gunman pounced.
According to police, the nurse was shot in the right hand and the bullet exited from her left hand.
“I had two passengers in the car and we were talking. The car was stopped at a red light and I was the first car.
There was this guy; he pulled on my door, but it was locked. He was talking but I was not prepared to listen to him. I thought he was just begging. He pulled the door again,” she said.
The woman said the man then began banging on her door and she decided to skip the red light to get away from him.
“But I didn’t see the gun in his hand. I only realised when we had reached where I was dropping off my friends that I was bleeding. He shot as I drove off. I couldn’t feel the pain,” she said.
At that point she received a phone call from her sister, telling her to be careful driving home as she had just witnessed an attempted hijacking.
“She had seen the entire thing but didn’t see that it was me and my car. “I drove myself to Chatsmed Hospital. Luckily, because the bullet exited (my hand), I didn’t have any surgery.”
She said the incident had left her so shaken that she would no longer use that route.
“I always use that route home; it’s quicker, with fewer speed humps. “It was a terrifying experience. I’m a nurse: we work a 12-hour day to save lives and somebody nearly took mine for something material.”
Police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala said no arrests had been made.
Councillor Tony Govender said this was the third attempted hijacking at the same spot this year.
“The bush near this area has been cleared. What is still a concern though are the two street lights near this spot that don’t work. We have numerous reference numbers from the city reporting these lights,” he said.