Knife-wielding muggers have again struck above Cape Town’s world-famous botanical gardens, Independent Online reported on Sunday.
Seven hikers in two separate groups became the latest victims near Kirstenbosch on Saturday, bringing to 14 the number of people mugged in the area in the past nine days.
One of the victims, a woman, who asked not to be named, said she was walking on the contour path with three friends, two women and a man, about 100m from Nursery Ravine when three men came jogging towards them.
”Two moved to the front and the other one remained behind until they circled us,” she said. ”They all had knives and took our backpacks, cellphones and valuables.”
While this was happening, a group of three male hikers came from the other direction and were also mugged. ”They allowed me to take my car keys out of my backpack,” said the woman. ”They motioned for us to retreat.”
The woman, who often walks on the mountain, said she had laid a charge with the police in Claremont. Adrian Goode, regional managing director of private company ADT Security in the Western Cape, said they received a call at about 10am on Saturday from the police.
”We were given the descriptions of three male suspects, which were passed on to patrol officers in the area. They spoke to a car guard on Rhodes Drive, who confirmed having seen a man who fitted the description of one of the three.”
Goode said a man was arrested at Constantia Nek, but police spokesperson Elliot Sinyangana could not confirm this.
Evelyn Holtzhausen, spokesperson for the Table Mountain National Park, said they regretted the incident. ”It seems as if we have to concentrate more resources around the Kirstenbosch area. It is, however, difficult to anticipate such incidents.”
Philip le Roux, curator of Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, said that Saturday’s incidents happened higher on the mountain than the previous ones.
He said it was extremely difficult to monitor the vast area. — Sapa