Man robbed at Port Elizabeth rubbish dump, car keys thrown into dump site

A Port Elizabeth man was held up at knifepoint — and attacked with his own pepper spray — when he went to a rubbish dump to offload garden refuse at the weekend.

Eastern Cape police have warned the public to be extra cautious when going to the Arlington tip dumping site after the incident, which occurred at 10am on Saturday.

Capt Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the 56-year-old man was confronted and robbed of his gold chain.

His car keys were thrown onto the rubbish dump during the attack.

Describing how the attack unfolded, she said: “It is alleged that when the complainant drove into the site, he was approached by three males who offered to assist him. As they were busy offloading the garden rubbish, the complainant got out of the vehicle to see how far they were with the offloading.

“He was confronted by one of the men who threatened him with a knife. The complainant scuffled with the suspects and a pepper spray canister fell out of the complainant’s pocket; the one suspect picked it up and sprayed the complainant with the pepper spray.”

The victim screamed for help and ran away.

“The suspects fled in the direction of the Walmer location and the complainant was assisted by the guards working at the dump site.

“The complainant sustained injuries during the scuffle and received medical treatment at the hospital. The suspects only fled with a gold chain that they managed to grab from his neck.”

Police are advising people going to the tip to be extra vigilant of their surroundings and not to accept any assistance from any person.

This was not the first attack reported to police in the vicinity of the city dump.

Janse van Rensburg said: “According to reports in the different cases, the victims are approached by unknown persons and offered to help unload their waste. They are lured to an isolated spot where they are held at knife point and robbed of cash, cellphones or jewellery. In other instances, the suspects will jump onto the back of the vehicle and direct the driver to an isolated spot where the driver is then robbed. While at the back of the vehicle, the suspect is already scanning the inside of the vehicle through the window.”

The common times of the attacks are between 11am and 5pm, and many cases were reported between Friday and Monday morning.

“Police are appealing to people to leave all valuables at home and if possible avoid going alone. Try to take someone with you and if you are the only person there, take extra note of your surroundings. If your instinct warns you of danger, rather drive off and come back when it is safe to do so.”