Robbery victim injured in hit-and-run

A 11-year-old boy who ran for help after a robbery was injured in a hit-and-run accident.

Joshua O'Callaghan and his grandfather, Lee Acorn went fishing at the Kleinfontein Dam near Benoni last Friday.

According to Joshua's father, Trevor O'Callaghan, three robbers attacked them and beat his grandfather with metal pipes. Joshua ran to the N12 highway to find help.

"Two women stopped to help. The next moment a grey-black Mercedes came past in the emergency lane and hit Joshua. He went hurtling through the air and landed in the middle lane. Both women thought he must be dead."

The women ran between the oncoming traffic and one prevented the child from swallowing blood and suffocating. The other woman and her husband managed to halt the traffic.

"When Joshua woke up in the ambulance, the first thing he said was that we needed to help his grandfather and phone his mother. We were in Cape Town for a wedding, but packed up and flew back immediately."

Later that day Joshua's mother, Debra, was in her car at the Atlas Road offramp near Boksburg when someone smashed her windscreen and tried to steal her phone.

Joshua was discharged from hospital on Saturday with a broken leg.

Trevor O'Callaghan said wreckage of the Mercedes-Benz found on the highway would hopefully help find the hit-and-run driver.