Bloody escape for teenager

A teenage student has described her terror on being hijacked - and then shot by the police - during a gun battle with her attackers.

The 19-year-old human resources student and her 30-year-old businessman boyfriend were relaxing in his Mercedes-Benz in the centre of Pretoria on Monday night when they were hijacked by three men.

What followed was a terror ride to Mamelodi that ended with the woman being shot in the thigh and her companion in the neck, chest and legs.

Brooklyn police and the Pretoria Flying Squad shot two of the hijackers dead and seriously wounded the third.

Police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Tshisikhawe Ndou confirmed the hijacking and shoot-out.

Speaking from her bed at Mamelodi Hospital, the teenager, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "We were relaxing inside the locked car when suddenly a man knocked on the driver's window with a handgun demanding that my boyfriend open the door.

"My boyfriend was ordered into the back seat and told to lie face down between the seats."

Two other men then sat on either side of him. The gunman sat in the driver's seat and ordered the student to sit still with her head down.

"My boyfriend asked the men to spare our lives and take everything, including the car, except for his laptop because he relied on it for business," she said.

The woman said the gunman received a call about the sale of the car and he described it as "posh and that it was readily available".

She then saw blue police lights flashing.

"The two men in the back seat called on the driver to stop. Instead, he accelerated in an attempt to get away from the police.

"By then there were many police vehicles and a shoot-out started. Gunshots were coming from all angles and, from the way they were firing at the car, it appeared that they were not aware we were there."

The driver was shot.

"He opened the door and attempted to escape on foot [but] collapsed and died," she said.