‘I don’t want the car any more’: Hijacking victim after kidnapping for ransom

A Soweto man who was hijacked and held captive for hours on Sunday doesn’t want his car any more.

“It’s very shocking. I used to love that car. I don’t want it any more. It is going to bring back those memories, and I don’t want to be attached to those memories. I want to let go of those and start all over,” said Claude Tyeku, 38.

He was hijacked on Sunday evening when he was dropping off his friend in Pimville Zone 7.

He was then taken to Eldorado Park by four men, who allegedly beat him up. The hijackers extorted money from him, demanding R20,000 for his freedom.

Talking to TimesLIVE, Tyeku recalled how the ordeal, which started at about 11pm on Sunday until the early hours of Monday, had traumatised him.

He said he was about to drop his friend off when armed men driving a Golf pounced.

“It was dark in colour, maybe black or blue. Three guys came out, and this one guy went on the left side of the car and took my friend away. The driver and the one in the back came through my door. The two guys pointed a gun at me, and one guy was pointing a gun at my friend,” he said.

The traumatic journey started when they forced him into the back seat of his car, let his friend go, blindfolded him and drove to Eldorado Park. He said they drove him to a dark place, where he could tell there were no street lights even though he was blindfolded.

“That place was very dark. All I could hear was through the cars that were passing that I wasn’t far from the freeway. They said to me, 'Since you don’t have money and your card, you will have to phone people to send us money. We need R20,000 to release you.'”

“I told them I don’t have money. They told me to call people who would help with the money.”

They asked for his phone’s PIN and instructed him to start making calls. When he couldn’t get his sister on the phone, he called the friend he had been dropping off earlier.

“He picked up and I told him this is the situation, these guys are looking for this much, please help me. He said he didn't have that much and that even if he had R20,000, there was no way he could transfer it via e-wallet.”

His friend then sent R3,500 in separate transactions. “They accepted that. This guy now wants to withdraw money. I am in the back seat of the car [Golf]. He said to me, 'We are going to keep you in a room.'”

Tyeku was kept in a room dark enough for him to believe it was windowless. He was then left with an armed man inside the room while the other suspects withdrew the money at an ATM. He said they threatened to shoot him if they did not get the money his friend promised to transfer.

“There were moments of panic — something in me would come and say I can panic now, but whether I make it out alive, this guy is the one controlling everything — my life is in his hands.”

Tyeku said he was caught between acceptance and fear as the gun was pointed at him. He said the other suspects were away for about 40 minutes.

He said the suspects told his friend that if he did not pay the money, they would dump the car somewhere but would not give him the keys.

When the other suspects returned, they thanked him for keeping his promise and said they would release him.

The sped off with him again, still blindfolded. 

The hijackers stopped again.

“They opened the door and said, 'You will have your car parked.'

“As soon as I heard the door closing, I took off a piece of cloth used to blindfold me. I tried to get the number of the plates, but the car had already sped off.”

He learnt from two people he came across that he was in Tshiawelo, Soweto.

“Fortunately they didn’t take the things I was wearing other than the watch.”

At one point, he said, he came across a police vehicle and tried to stop it, but they allegedly drove off.

A taxi was passing in the early hours of Monday morning. He explained his situation and the driver dropped him not far from the Kliptown police station, where he opened a case.

On Monday afternoon his tracker company informed him his car was found in Klipspruit West. “I went and identified the car.”

He said he is experiencing flashbacks. “We usually braai with my friend, but after this experience it is going to be different. I don’t think I will go back there. It will take me time.”

Gauteng police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo said they have opened a case of car hijacking and kidnapping.

“No arrests have been made yet. A search for the suspects is under way.”’

TimesLIVE

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