WATCH: New rock-throwing modus operandi

Published Mar 14, 2018

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DURBAN - As Durban city officials beef up security on bridges to curb rock-throwing attacks, another modus operandi by rock-throwers has surfaced.

Road safety champions, Arrive Alive, posted a video on Facebook showing a rock attack. The video, recorded with the motorist's dashcam, showed a vehicle’s windscreen being shattered by a rock, after the motorist was forced to swerve to an oncoming lane due to a fire under the bridge on the motorist’s lane.

Also Read : Durban rock throw suspect to appear in court 

The Facebook post by Arrive Alive read: “Reported as new modus operandi. They make a fire in one lane and force you to use the other one. You instinctively slow down and then they throw the rock from the bridge. Below was recorded on a dashcam.”

Arrive Alive spokesperson, Johan Jonck, said the video was sent anonymously, and while he believed the incident was isolated, the video displayed that rock throwing was becoming more life-threatening.

“It was an isolated incident and we don’t want to cause panic, but the manner in which it happened indicated that this is becoming increasingly threatening,” he said.

Jonck could not confirm when or where the incident happened but said AA posted the video to make the public aware of dangerous scenarios.

Rock-throwing has been under the spotlight since the deaths of the Haffajee siblings, Amina and Abdul, in December. They were killed in a rock-throwing incident in Tongaat.

A boulder ripped through the windscreen of the car the Haffajee siblings were travelling in, fatally injuring the youngsters. Picture supplied.

ALSO READ: Warning after rock throwing incident

A spate of rock-throwing incidents followed, spurring eThekwini deputy mayor Fawzia Peer to deploy scholar patrols at 16 of Durban’s most notorious bridges.

Peer said since February 18, following the deployment, no rock-throwing incidents had been reported.

ALSO READ: Patrols to curb bridge attacks 

Meanwhile, another victim of a recent rock-throwing incident in Shaka’s Head, north of Durban, is recovering from serious injuries.

Sashnie Daniel, 27, was in a coma for several days, when rocks were flung at her vehicle during a service delivery protest. She is now able to breath without life support.

Sashnie Daniels is now breathing without life support after an almost fatal rock throwing incident. Picture supplied.

Few arrests have been made since the number of incidents spiked this year.

Suspected rock-thrower, Nkosinathi Mthalane, 26, is expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court next week after he was arrested in February for allegedly pelting rocks at two vehicles on the N3 under Durban’s Tollgate Bridge.

ALSO READ: Durban rock throw suspect to appear in court 

SUNDAY TRIBUNE

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