Hijackers meet violent, and bizarre, end
By Alex Eliseev
An arrest, a suicide and a dead robber wedged in a tree - this was the aftermath of a failed hijacking in Kempton Park.
The drama unfolded on Tuesday evening, when Chantell Van Lelyveld, 27, had asked her cousin to visit a friend in Glen Marais.
"I just need five minutes to speak to him," she told Madelein Steyn.
Steyn agreed and the pair drove to visit Cornelius (who asked that his surname be withheld).
As they drove down Rietfontein Road, they saw the street was empty.
They sent an SMS to announce their arrival.
Soon after Steyn parked in the driveway, at about 8pm, Van Lelyveld looked down the barrel of a hijacker's gun.
"As soon as I looked at him, he shot at me," she said.
The bullet flew through the passenger's door, but miraculously missed her.
"Just go! Just go!" she urged her cousin - but Steyn was in shock and couldn't get the car into reverse.
The second he heard the shot, Cornelius charged out to the gate. As he ran, a second shot went off, again narrowly missing Van Lelyveld.
"I fired a warning shot," Cornelius said.
"Then the robbers turned their attention to me and started shooting rapidly. I was ducking and diving. It was hectic."
Cornelius fired his revolver until it was empty and the men fled.
One ran down the street, two ran up the street and one jumped in a Toyota Venture and sped off.
The two women had been dragged out of the car.
As the bullets flew, they took cover against a wall.
"I was thinking about my son. I just wanted to go home to him," Van Lelyveld said. Her son, Armand, is five.
For Cornelius, the failed hijacking brought back frightening memories from 2005, when he was attacked in the same driveway.
Then, the hijackers had shot at his car as he reversed it into their car, forcing them to flee.
Cornelius has lived in the house for more than 10 years and works for the Ekurhuleni metro council.
"When he (the hijacker) shot at me, I thought I was going to die," Van Lelyveld said. "If it wasn't for Cornelius, he would have killed me."
The two who ran up the street were caught by security guards and another gunfight erupted. According to the police, one of the hijackers shot himself in the head while the other was arrested.
The third turned two corners and jumped into a tree at the gate of a house.
Wedged in the branches of the tree, he took cover, but then died from his injuries. He was discovered early on Wednesday by the house owners.
A large chunk of the tree had to be cut away to free his stiff body.
The suspect who escaped in the Toyota is still on the run.
Police spokesperson Jethro Mtshali said investigations were under way to catch him.
