Shots were fired at him and he ran towards the nearest lights.

Ashraf Rodriques was hijacked at an intersection near Northgate on Friday evening by two armed men.

He was forced to drive his Mazda 3 with one of his attackers sitting next to him and another pressing the barrel of his gun in the back of his neck.

"I was taken to an ATM where a balance inquiry was done and they made me withdraw R3000," said Rodriques, with a quiver in his voice.

"I know it was risky but I managed to send a cryptic BBM to my wife Jackie that read: HLP HJAK.'' One of the guys (sitting in front) saw the cellphone and took it away," he said.

Meanwhile, his wife reported the matter to the police.

A private investigator alerted the Emergency Management Services in Durban and asked them to send out the alert to their Johannesburg branches.

The message went viral immediately, to hospitals, mortuaries, and was posted on Facebook and Twitter.

After being assaulted and withdrawing the money, Rodriques was made to lie flat on the back seat with a jacket covering his head. The men drove around with him for hours.

Just before he was to be killed execution style in the middle of a veld near Diepsloot, he mastered the courage to punch one of his assailants in the face and groin and run for dear life.

A few shots were fired at him but he managed to escape.- moengk@sowetan.co.za

Comments

• Sign in or sign up to comment

Mon May 20 22:29:11 SAST 2013 ::

Nov 12, 2012

Mellow

Ashraf Rodriques...Sir you are my hero oohhhh man what a traumatic event thanks to the love of your family you kept fighting but haai thats very risky as well yong and thanks to your wife for alerting everyone crazy crazy world we live in.

Hope those heartless bustards die a slow painful death
Report Abuse

Nov 12, 2012

ntshware-ke-yawa

thanks God you are still alive today.Could someone "give you a bells".You played a hero part.
Report Abuse

Nov 12, 2012

TLekota

Mzansi for shooooooo. Alive with crime.
Report Abuse

Nov 12, 2012

Skomoro99

Nothing new here,its gona continue like this as long as Human rights group protects criminals.If the guy had a gun n shot one of the thugs,he wud b in jail ritte now coz of this human rights.Criminals have a right to do as the pliz in SA
Report Abuse

Nov 12, 2012

cornelius

Are we South Africans goiung to accept that this is the way things are in SA - scumbags rob and k.ll law abidng people, fathers, mothers, oupas and oumas, chidren, daily. Or are we going to stand up and say this is enough - we DEMAND change - proper policing , which starts with appointment of proper, trained policemen as top cop, not some dodgy crony of the president.
Report Abuse

Nov 12, 2012

antie

Well Done!!! It is time we all start fighting back. Because we are always told to "give them what they want, and they'll go away" criminals have become tame and think they can do with us what they want. If they know there's a good chance we will fight back and they can get hurt, they'd think twice before choosing their career.
Report Abuse

Nov 12, 2012

Lehido

And yet when we get hold of the thugs and we give them a hiding, we get arrested.....

Why is that the police are quick to arreste the innocent, but the quilty ones, they can be after them for months if not years?
Report Abuse

Nov 12, 2012

BrizzyPistol7

That was a very risky move. You watching too much DSTV movies sir. But you managed to pull it off nicely, your family could have lost a father and husband. Thank God.
Report Abuse

Nov 12, 2012

Skomoro99

Lehido
And yet when we get hold of the thugs and we give them a hiding, we get arrested.....

Why is that the police are quick to arreste the innocent, but the quilty ones, they can be after them for months if not years?
-------------------------------------------------------------
Its dificult for police to do their work n dats why the arrest easy targets.If they shoot and kill those criminals,they also face murder charges and end up losing their jobs.the government does really benefit from crime.Bheki Cele was doing a great job and crime getin lower during his leardership but look how they took him out.Zoomer Shower head is a criminal himself
Report Abuse

Nov 12, 2012

sabza007

He must thank his invisible angels and almighty God or whoever he prays to, the courage to do that in the middle of the night , he refused to be a statistic. I respect your courage Ashraf. At this stage, don't worry about the car, your life and your family's life is more important than any material.

Open borders, poor justice system,many rights to the convict, unsatisfactory work of some police that has seen hundreds of would be convicts getting their cases thrown out courts due to lack of evidence. We charge Rhino killers to 40 years in jail, and we sentence killers, rapists,hijackers to 18,20,25 years in jail. I don't say Rhino killers shouldn't be punished, but which life is more important.
Report Abuse

Read all 36 comments