Durban — Sydenham resident Mohamed Ismail is recovering in hospital and lucky to be alive after being shot during an attempted robbery outside his home on Tuesday.
Ismail, 65, manages his own school transport business. He had returned home to fetch his grandchildren and drop them off at school when the robbery happened. His son Ridwaan Ismail said a white Toyota Etios gave his father “a way” to enter the driveway, his father not realising that the men inside the vehicle were robbers.
Ismail was seated inside his Daihatsu Sirion with his one granddaughter seated in front and the other getting into the back seat, when two men rushed towards her and tried to grab her bag.
Ridwaan said Ismail got out of the car and rushed at the men to protect the children. One of the robbers shot him and back-pedalled towards the getaway car. Ridwaan, who heard his mother’s screams for help, rushed at the men with a broom handle until they got into the Toyota Etios.
The robbers fled without taking anything. However, the robbers made a U-turn further up the road and fired a shot towards the family standing at the driveway entrance.
“Before the car made a U-turn my father said he was shot in the leg and I was checking him. My mother peered around the corner and saw the car come back. Luckily the second shot did not harm us. When I looked closer I found a bullet hole in my father’s stomach,” Ridwaan said.
Ismail underwent an operation on Tuesday to remove a bullet that was lodged in a buttock.
The incident happened in 34 seconds according to CCTV footage. The CCTV footage shows a white Toyota Etios slowing down outside a home. A girl walks towards a car in the driveway and at the same time the back passenger door opens and two men run to the girl and grab her but she manages to get into the back seat of her car. The driver, Ismail, gets out of the car and rushes towards the two men. Ridwaan appears and throws something at the robbers. The men get into the car, and it makes a U-turn, and drives off.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Nqobile Gwala said a case of attempted murder is under investigation at Sydenham SAPS.
Ridwaan said it was not a hit or a planned robbery but opportunistic. Ridwaan said the robbers might have thought his daughter was carrying a laptop.
“My father’s instincts were to protect the kids. With the poor economy, crimes such as this will be on the increase. We have faith that the police will arrest them,” Ridwaan said.
In Westham, Phoenix, north of Durban, two women were physically assaulted by a gang of robbers on Tuesday. One of the women, 87, was sweeping her yard when about five men climbed over her fence and attacked her.
A 68-year-old woman who was inside the house managed to hold off one of the robbers and press the panic alarm button, said private security company GBH Security’s operations manager, Sabastian Moses.
“This was an opportunistic gang of robbers. When they got over the fence they forced the women into the house. They tried to take whatever they could, including their earrings. The women screamed for their lives. They were in a state of shock when I arrived and needed medical treatment,” Moses said.
Daily News