Derek Todd (66) drove his Nissan bakkie down Daveyton Road on October 27, when he stopped for a man on the side of the road, just after noon.
The hitchhiker was holding a 2l plastic milk bottle.
Todd stopped to offer assistance.
The man, who looked to be in his 30s, addressed Todd in English and Afrikaans.
“Can you help me with some petrol?” Todd was asked.
“I have got money, I just need to get to the petrol station.”
Before the motorist could act, the hitchhiker said he would have to fetch another bottle as the one he was holding had a hole in it.
Todd drove behind the pedestrian, who was still on foot, and made his way about 150m down a road, which borders Daveyton Road.
When the 66-year-old stopped, he saw a white VW Golf One, which had its bonnet open.
“He (the hitchhiker) ducked into the back seat to get a can,” Todd explained.
“As that happened, at least two guys – there may have been three – came out from behind the car.
“One came to the passenger side, crouched, held a gun with both hands, and said: ‘Get out or I’ll shoot you’.”
Todd noticed a second man to his right hand side.
He hastily reversed his bakkie.
As he did this, the man on the left hand side fired a shot.
“I was reversing like hell,” he said.
“I turned my head around and reversed flat out.”
The Morehill resident later discovered that the bullet had entered the left side of the mirror’s casing and exited through the mirror.
Todd said he is flabbergasted that the bullet had not penetrated the window (which was closed) or damaged it in any way.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said.
The bullet hole was directly in line with his head and Todd has no doubt he would have been dead had the bullet continued on its course.
He is also certain he would have been shot had he got out of the vehicle at the scene of the incident, as the men were not wearing balaclavas.
The mirror will now remind Todd of his near death experience.
“I am never going to fix it (the mirror), it will forever be a reminder,” he told the City Times.
Benoni SAPS spokesperson Lieut Nomsa Sekele said an attempted hijacking case was opened at the Benoni Police Station.
She said police have not received any recent reports of cases where a similar modus operandi was used.
No arrests have been made. http://benonicitytimes.co.za/233840/man-flabbergasted-to-have-survived-roadside-shooting/
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