South African crime and violence have taken an even more bizarre twist as a pregnant young woman, Leandi Venter, was hijacked in her car a week ago, assaulted and tortured, with pictures of the battered girl sent to her father from her own cellphone to extract money from him.
Her mother, Olga Bosman Schoeman, a classical musician and accomplished harpist, posted the following heart-wrenching account on her Facebook page in the form of a warning to women and girls that they might be attacked in their own cars at traffic lights in broad daylight.
My beautiful, fragile daughter was hijacked on JG Strijdom Avnue at 8.20am last Sunday. She was abducted and assaulted and held for ransom by four burly men who wore balaclavas and gloves.
She was on her way to Clearwater Mall. There was little traffic. When she stopped at a traffic light they broke her window with a brick they kept with them to beat her. They jumped into the car and commanded her to drive. They spoke little and only English.
They gave directions to an area near Rebel Farmers and forced her to stop in a secluded wooded section where they forced her to march into the bushes at knife point. They carried firearms as well.
Then they demanded money. When she said she had none, they wanted her to go to the bank and withdraw some. Their demand for cash increased as did their agitation. They took her phone and said: let’s see who will pay for you then.
First significant name on the list is “Daddy”. Let’s see how much daddy loves you, they said.
She said one cannot transfer and draw that incredible amount of money within minutes. She reasoned with them calmly and rationally. She also told them that she is pregnant and if they hurt the baby they will get no co-operation from her. They may as well kill her right there.
They said maybe Daddy needed some motivation to speed up the ransom. She refused to phone. They tied her up with duct tape and proceeded to take videos and pictures with her camera which they then sent to her dad before deleting them. They beat her brutally and relentlessly. One held her from behind, pulling her hair back to expose her delicate face. One held her legs. One took off his shirt and beat her. One video-ed.
After knocking her out they took more pictures which they sent to her dad. When she could speak, she phoned him.
They forced her back to her car and put a beanie over her brutalized face. They commanded her to drive in circles from one ATM to the next. Her husband was also called and sent videos and asked for cash. They wanted e-wallet transfers when the cash the dad and husband rustled up couldn’t be drawn fast enough. They kept her on her phone so we would know she was alive.
A famous private detective and his entire team, dogs and all, were quickly summoned. My brave girl continued to be calm and responsible and rational. She held it together.
Transfers took too long. One gent got scared and ran off after the second transaction. Her car has a tracer and thank God they made her use her phone because the team traced her within minutes and followed her aimless driving.
The thugs were also contemplating that this was not really going as well as they had hoped and that maybe they ought to have thought this through more. Like the possibility of someone tracing them through their account. Like keeping her for the night and getting more money.
That is where she nearly lost it. She did however keep very calm. A call came through which they wanted her to take. She had put the phone in the cubby hole quite casually, knowing there was a Mace spray in there. So when she took the phone she took the lipstick-shaped Mace as well.
The call was from the detective assuring her they were not far.
She then promptly stopped at the side of the road and said to her kidnappers calmly that they shouldn’t be idiots. Her car had a tracker and her phone as well. Did they really think that after the first call to her dad and second to her husband she would not be tracked? She said the call was from the police, they were minutes away with their canine unit. Won’t these gents be kind enough to be grateful for what they’ve already got and run?
She then sprayed them furiously with Mace.
They opened the door and ran in different directions.
All she could do after that was drive fast to a shopping area where she phoned. She was found minutes later by all concerned in the chase.
She is badly beaten, but those injuries will heal in time. The damage to her soul I cannot fathom. She is not coping at all. She was taken to Garden City Clinic for endless tests. Trauma counselling is in place. The gynaecologist is extremely happy with little Pinkfoot. He said if it hadn’t been for her courageous calmness throughout the nearly four hours of captivity and even and especially during the brutal assault, things might have been quite different.
How incredible it feels to say how lucky we are.
Things could have been very, very different.
This random hijacking near Clearwater Mall was a wrong-place-wrong-time-thing. And the men were desperate for cash.
She was lost in thought as she stopped at the traffic light, thinking about opening a new bank account and the maternity clothes she would soon need to buy.
The criminals demanded money from her account, first through transfers then through e-wallet. I didn’t even know such a thing existed.
So I implore you all to be extra vigilant at intersections. And know about this method of extracting money.
I am lucky indeed. My child is alive.
