Two Pietermaritzburg toddlers were found safe on Sunday morning after spending the night in a hijacked bakkie, said KwaZulu-Natal police.
Superintendent Henry Budhram said an Ashdown resident, who had heard radio broadcasts of the hijacking, went to investigate when he saw the Nissan double cab parked in Bhekezulu Road at 7am.
”He approached the vehicle and found both the children inside crying.
”The vehicle was locked and with help of the older child, [he] managed to open the door and rescue the children,” said Budhram.
They had not been harmed.
The drama began at 5pm on Saturday afternoon while Cindy Brown was picking up Cherinique Nicholson and her one-year-old child at their home in Napierville, he said.
Nicholson was waiting for Brown in the vehicle when she saw two men dressed in black, one with a tog bag.
”The men approached her and suddenly one of them took out a firearm from the black sports bag and pointed it at her, ordering her out of the vehicle,” said Budhram.
”Cherinque, together with her child, jumped out of the vehicle and ran around it screaming for her husband.”
Garren Nicholson emerged from the house with Brown to see the hijackers driving off in the vehicle with Brown’s daughters, aged 18 months and two years, inside.
Nicholson immediately gave chase. He and his wife are police stationed at Mountain Rise. However, he lost sight of the vehicle.
Police then launched an intensive search.
Budhram expressed the police’s appreciation to all those who helped search for the children and its gratitude for the community’s assistance. — Sapa