Hijacked mum shot while saving son

By Gill Gifford

Johannesburg – A WOMAN was shot in the face after resisting a hijacker who wanted to drive off in her car with her three year-old son inside.

The 32-year-old woman had gone to fetch her son from a nursery school in Boskruin, Honeydew, in Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon when the lone suspect confronted her.

Her identity is being kept secret by the police.

West Rand police spokesman Inspector Yolande Bouwer said the woman had secured the child in the car and was about to get into the driver’s seat of her Nissan Sentra when she was confronted.

“The suspect apparently grabbed her as she was at the driver’s door and demanded the keys. She handed the keys over and then tried to get the child out of the car but the man refused,” Inspt Bouwer said.

The woman is believed to have then started resisting and tried to fight off her attacker while screaming for help.

A neighbour who was working in his nearby garden heard her screams and came to help. As he approached the struggling pair the suspect pulled out a firearm.

“The suspect fired one shot into the ground, but it ricocheted upwards and hit the woman in the face,” Inspt Bouwer said.

The suspect fled the scene on foot, taking nothing with him. He is still at large.

The woman, shocked and bleeding, was taken to hospital for treatment. The bullet had injured the right side of the woman’s face. It had not penetrated her cheek, and she was treated for a graze wound and discharged.

Inspt Bouwer said the little boy was not physically injured during the attack. Police counsellors have treated the traumatised mother and son.

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