A reminder as to why Neighbourhood Watches matter so much! Thanks to brave members of a Neighbourhood Watch in Cape Town, an 88-year-old passenger was rescued from a hijacking!
Cape Town, South Africa (20 February 2024) — A Neighbourhood Watch group played an imperative role in helping an elderly person escape a hijacking on Saturday, 18 February.
According to Cape Town officials, an 88-year-old passenger was inside a vehicle with another woman as the driver. When the driver left the car in an idling state to quickly fetch something from a house on Athlone’s Belgravia Road, an opportunist emerged and drove off with the elderly woman still inside the car.
The official statement relays that the elderly woman had been held at gunpoint before the perpetrator drove off. But luckily for her, the local Neighbourhood Watch were not about to let the hijacker get away with it!
Witnesses part of the watch quickly responded and followed the car. They informed the Metro Police officers who were on a crime prevention patrol nearby of the situation, and soon officers were on the case too.
After a car chase, officers were able to stop the driver on Racecourse Road near Access Park in Kenilworth. At this point, the hijacker jumped ship and hit the ground running, but was ultimately caught and arrested. The 88-year-old was rescued from the vehicle and driven to the heroes at Groote Schuur to make sure she was okay, and to offer her trauma counselling.
“The swift action by officers and the local neighbourhood watch members in Athlone yesterday who came to the rescue of the 88-year-old passenger showed the importance of enforcement patrols in suburbs. I would like to commend the the local Neighbourhood Watch who acted and followed the vehicle and informed our officers…Neighbourhood Watches are an important link between community members and our enforcement officers in crime prevention and in the sharing of information which could lead to arrests and getting criminals off the street and out of communities,” commended Mayco Member Alderman JP Smith.
by 