Cape Town - There have been four hijackings in Kuils River in just two weeks, and two of them were in the same road.
The latest was in Mabille Park, on the corner of Botha Street and Van Riebeeck Road, on Friday September 1, at 12.30pm, and it involved two armed men.
There had been another hijacking - also in Botha Street, also at 12.30pm and also involving two men - only days earlier on Sunday August 24, said Kuils River police spokesman, Captain Isaac van Niekerk.
On Wednesday night August 30, four armed men hijacked a family in Pioneer Street, Soneike.
One of the victims of that incident posted on the Kuils River Community Facebook page to warn others to be vigilant.
She told how the hijackers had taken her niece’s BMW as she had been pulling up in her driveway. She had been with her niece at the time.
“As my niece pulled up, a grey Polo hatchback sped past,” she said.
The hijackers had climbed out of the Polo before it drove off, and they had forced the family out of the car and taken their phones and bags before speeding off in the stolen BMW, which had been tracked to Khayelitsha 30 minutes later.
On the same post, another resident told of her hijacking ordeal, which Captain Van Niekerk confirmed took place in Van Riebeek Road on Saturday August 19, at 9.15am.
“We were hijacked in front of the OK store in main road, Kuils River,” she said. “It is indeed becoming really scary.”
The woman said they had been in a parked car while waiting for her father who was in the shop.
“My dad came out of the shop. My 7-year-old son was with me, and my mom was in front,” she said.
The woman said that when the hijackers demanded their vehicle, she had screamed to her mother to “get out”.
“I had to pick my son up and run with him because he froze from shock and screamed hysterically,” she said.
“They were armed but their primary goal was the car.”
No arrests have been made in any of these hijacking cases, said Captain Van Niekerk.