OWN CORRESPONDENT, Durban | Thursday
TWO foreign ombudsmen attending a conference in Durban have been robbed at knifepoint by gangs of brazen teenage muggers in two separate incidents – with one being bitten by his young assailants when he resisted.
Belgian ombudsman Herman Wuyts said he had a tetanus injection after being bitten by one of the robbers when he refused to hand over his wallet, containing R500.
Wuyts said he was enjoying the “lovely sunny weather” in Durban when he was attacked by three boys aged about 14. When he resisted, one of the boys started biting him on his left forearm, forcing him to relinquish the wallet.
“I shouted at two people who were standing nearby to help me, but no-one came,” Wuyts said.
The driver of a car later stopped and took him back to the nearby International Convention Centre, where the seventh conference of the International Ombudsman is taking place.
Finnish ombudsman Judge Lauri Lehtimaja and his wife Irma were with British ombudsman Michael Buckley and his wife when they were attacked by about six boys aged between 14 and 15.
“One of them was armed with a knife and he said: ‘I will kill you, you bastard’. Everything happened so fast and they were very aggressive. One of them took the pouch with my camera and cell phone, while the other stole my purse from my pocket. It was over within a few seconds. They did not even make a run for it, they slowly strolled away.”
“We have been warned not to walk around in certain areas at night, but this happened in broad daylight and there were four of us. We thought we were safe,” Lehtimaja said.
“I sentence a lot of criminals for this sort of thing, but it is the first time that I have been on the receiving end,” said Lehtimaja, who is a judge.
“I guess it is good for a judge to be robbed once in a while.” – AFP