Cape Town - A robber got a taste of his own knife when he was stabbed to death by an angry mob in Manenberg on Monday night.
Cops say the mob left Arnold Fortune, 36, for dead along the railway tracks behind the Caltex garage after stabbing him multiple times.
“It was about 7pm when the attack happened. It is believed that he was robbing people crossing the railway line between Manenberg and Gugulethu,” says a police source.
“There is a gaatjie (gap) in the palisade fence that people use as a shortcut and he allegedly robbed the people at knife point, but they got gatvol and moered him.
“They stabbed him lots of times in the chest and in the face using his own knife.”
The source says two hours later, Fortune was taken to Heideveld Emergency Centre where he was declared dead on arrival.
Acting station commander Colonel Sanele Zama confirms the case and says police were called to Heideveld Day Hospital where it was found that Fortune had already succumbed to his injuries.
“The group that attacked him ran away and left him along the railway line,” says Zama.
“He was taken by people who knew him to Heideveld Emergency Centre in a private car and when they got there, they were told by doctors that he had already passed away.”
On Tuesday residents crossing the railway line told the Daily Voice that robberies occurred there daily as crooks mostly target people going home from work.
“Hulle rob elke dag hier, mevrou. Ons het gehoor die mense het daai een ou vrek gestiek. (They rob people here everyday, ma'am. We heard those people stabbed one man to death)
“Die plek is baie gevaarlik, hulle rook buttons en wag vir die mense wat oor kom. Hulle soek net cellphones en geld.” (This place is very dangerous, they smoke drugs and wait for the people to cross. They are looking for cellphones and money.)
Zama says most street robberies occur closer to Govan Mbeki Road.
“The section on the other side of Nyanga Junction is more of a hotspot for the people walking to Gugulethu but in this case the information shows that the victim was involved in robberies,” he explains.
“No arrests have been made and the investigation continues.”