Man with pipe causes Gautrain mayhem

A passenger and his pregnant wife narrowly escaped injury when a man armed with a pipe began smashing the inside of a Gautrain carriage.

Thabileng and Ntebu Mothabi were on the last Gautrain of the day on Saturday evening when a man got on at the Centurion station. "Suddenly he pulled out a pipe from a bag he was carrying, and started smashing the door. Then he came towards where my wife and I were sitting," Mothabi said.

Mothabi said he had to duck when the man swung the pipe and hit one of the windows. He said he thought the man was not aiming for him but the window.

The couple, said Mothabi, were then able to get off the train before it left the station.

"People waved the train driver to stop. Many thought they had heard gunfire before they were made aware that it had been the impact caused by a pipe," said Mothabi.

Spokesman for Gautrain, Errol Braithwaite said that the train proceeded to the Pretoria station where police and security were on hand to arrest the man.

Braithwaite said the man has been charged with malicious damage to property.

Mothabi said the train later returned and they were able to collect their luggage and proceed to Pretoria.