A Johannesburg motorist wielding a large monkey wrench spanner who was filmed banging on the window of another driver while a 7-year-old child shrieked and cried inside the car is behind bars.

Honeydew police confirmed his arrest on Thursday afternoon.

“It is all true,” said Brigadier Anesh Maharaj.

“He was arrested at around 5 or 6pm around the Cosmo City area,” said Maharaj.

The man, known as Steve Matavhulule, would most likely appear in the Randburg Magistrate's Court on Friday.

Earlier, this publication had spoken to both Matavhulele and the other motorist, Itumeleng Kgoleng, who had locked himself and his daughter in the car while an irate Matavhule continuously pulled on the latch of his car doors, banging on the window

Both men had pointed fingers at one another as to who was in the wrong.

In the video footage which went viral on social media, Kgoleng and his daughter are seated in the car while Matavhulele bangs on the windows, seemingly in anger.

He walks from the driver’s side to the other side of the car, and pulls on the door handle while banging on the window.

All the while, the fear in the little girl is heard in her screams as her father records the incident.

Matavhulule walks back to the driver-side window, bangs on it and pulls the handle.

He then gets the hardware tool from his bakkie and returns to the driver's side window where he bangs on the window with his hand one last time before the video ends.

Kgoleng explained on Thursday afternoon what led to the ordeal.

"What happened was is that we were at the robot and there was a traffic jam. We were parallel, so I asked to move in front of him but he refused. The next driver agreed.

"I teased him and poked out my tongue to show him I was cool and got a spot," Kgoleng said.

He said when the robot turned green, he was travelling behind Matavhulule.

"The man [Matavhulule] stopped at the next robot and got out and came behind me. There were Metro cops and they told him to get out of the way. So I just drove off because I was late... Only to find that he was following me.

"Two robots later he cuts me off and gets out." 

Kgoleng said he could not understand parts of Matavhulule's language, but he was swearing and wanted him to get out of the car.

"From the first robot I poked my tongue out, so I don't know if it was because of that.

"I drove off again and he followed me to the school.

"I was scared."

He said he dropped off his child at school and phoned the police and that a case had been opened at the Honeydew police station.

Matavhulule, meanwhile, said that Kgoleng drove on the yellow line in traffic and nearly bumped his bakkie.

"You see these cars who drive on the yellow lane, one of them was him. He nearly bumped me, because he saw the cops and tried to swerve in when he saw the cops at the robot," Matavhulule said.

Matavhulule said at a second robot he turned down his window and asked Kgoleng why he was driving recklessly.

"He pointed at my car and told me that I am driving a company car and he will report me and nobody will believe this.

"He [Kgoleng] was in a lane turning right and I was at a lane going straight. He tried to squeeze in between me and the car behind me. I just heard a noise at the back and applied the brakes."

Matavhulule said he stopped when he saw traffic officers at the next robot and told them that Kgoleng was driving recklessly.

"The traffic officers told me that we should make a statement but the guy sped off.

"I thought he was running away, so I followed him to Northgate. I made a shortcut to block him. When he stopped, he took out a camera. I told him to take responsibility for what he did," he said.

He agreed that that he had banged on the car's windows: "I was just trying to scare him so that he can open the car so that he can tell me what he was doing.

"I just wanted him to say sorry and account for what he did, that's all."

However, Kgoleng denied this version of events.

The video of the incident was shared by Kgoleng's wife, Florence, on Facebook. 

"This barbaric ) man attacked my husband and 7 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER this morning on their way to school, This man threatened their lives, with no care in the world that a child is inside the car.

"He is not even moved by the fact that his been captured on video, he followed them to school after the video was taken. My husband had to drive inside the school yard for safety. This cannot go unpunished please help to make this sick man go viral and may the long arm of the law deal with him on #16daysofactivism NO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMAN AND CHILDREN!," read the post by Florence. 

By Thursday evening, the post had been shared almost 10,000 times and had more than  243,000 views.