Recovering from bruises and a cut on her face, the victim of a road rage incident outside a local shopping centre says she's determined to stop her attacker, apparently a municipal employee, in his tracks.
Recovering from bruises and a cut on her face, the victim of a road rage incident outside a local shopping centre says she's determined to stop her attacker, apparently a municipal employee, in his tracks.
Rhodes Law student Tlamelo Mothudi said the incident occurred after she was almost struck by a municipal vehicle at the African Street entrance to Pepper Grove mall on Friday morning. Mothudi said she was standing near the mall entrance waiting to cross African Street when the municipal vehicle veered into the complex at high speed, narrowly missing her.
When the driver stopped to avoid a collision, Mothudi said, she remonstrated with the driver. She said he then threatened to hit her, to which she responded, “You wouldn’t dare.”
The man then got out of the vehicle, she said, and struck her in the face, leaving her with a bruise and a laceration.
According to a cleaner at the complex who witnessed the incident and whose name is known to Grocott's Mail, the man struck Mothudi three times rapidly with both his hands. The cleaner said the man then returned to his car and parked it before going into a shop.
Mothudi used her cellphone to take photographs of the vehicle, including the licence plate, and asked a nearby security guard to help her apprehend the man and keep him until the police arrived.
Instead, said Mothudi, the security guard took the man's name and contact details and allowed him to leave.
“I almost just went home and let it go,” says Mothudi. “But knew that if I didn’t do something he would be out there and do it again.”
Grocott's Mail confirmed with the municipality that the name Mothudi's attacker gave to the security guard matched a name on their personnel records.
Grahamstown police said they were currently investigating the incident, but had yet to make an arrest.
