2 grannies saved from EL robbery

A Mugger  got more than he bargained for when he attacked two elderly women in Berea, East London, this week.

He ended up with outraged witnesses hunting him down and arresting him. Passersby rushed to the rescue of the two grannies – one of whom he punched so hard her eardrum burst  as he tried to steal her necklace.

Rosemary Wilson and Joy Harrald, both in their 70s, were power walking when they were violently attacked from behind on the corner of Pearce Street and Old Transkei Road around 6am on Wednesday.

The two women said the thug went for Wilson’s necklace and when she went into a defensive curled position clutching it to her chin, he smashed both women to the ground.

He was seen repeatedly laying into the screaming women by passing attorney and open water swimmer Jason Chambers.

Chambers hit his car’s hooter, did a U-turn and leapt out to assist.

Runners and an unknown man in a white bakkie also made a beeline for the women, and Chambers said the attacker fled down Old Transkei Road towards a white Mazda getaway car, which had stalled.

But the runners and unknown bakkie driver were hot on his heels. The mugger was seen drawing a knife as he backtracked towards the entrance of Old Selbornians Club with the runners – one a local doctor – staying on his tail at a safe distance.

The doctor was heard shouting: “Boet, I will run with you the whole day if I have to.”

Chambers said: “The guy with the bakkie came from nowhere. He ramped across pavements and the island like a man possessed. He was like a rally driver.

“He was trying to corner him and not run him down. After he hit him for third time, the guy got up and ran towards Old Boys at the stop street where the bakkie hit him hard. He realised he was cornered and he surrendered.”

IT company manager Ayanda Ngcebetsha, returning from the gym, said he saw a security guard manhandle a handcuffed man as he took him to a police sedan.

Ngcebetsha started taking cellphone pictures, saying it felt wrong to kick a handcuffed man. “He was not resisting arrest,” he said.  “They were putting him in the boot of the sedan. The cops opened it and the guard put him in the boot. My problem with that is that if it is too dangerous to drive with him in the car, it’s worth waiting for a van.”

Wilson and Harrald were in the back seat of the police car, where Wilson said she was afraid she might be stabbed in the back.

Chambers said the runners had seen a police car and waved it down. “The police helped detain the guy and tried to call for a van. But there was no van so they decided to take him in the car.”

Chambers said: “I felt sickened . He had no regard for their ages or that he was hurting them.”

Wilson said the thug’s punches burst her eardrum and gave her a haematoma (blood-filled swelling) on the side of her head, and she had scratches on both legs.

Harrald’s hand was red and swollen and X-rays yesterday showed that it was sprained.

Harrald said she used the only weapon she had – her house key and gate remote – to hit back at the attacker as he stood over Wilson with his fists pumping into her in the hope she would release her necklace. The women said: “He thought these two old ducks were easy targets. But he did not know that these chicks were going to put up a fight.”

Harrald and Wilson have six children and many grandchildren and are prominent members of the East London golfing community.

Police spokesman Lieutenant Nkosikho Mzuku confirmed the suspect was being investigated for robbery. He said the two women commended the police for their quick reaction and assistance

Allegations that the attacker had been assaulted and bundled into the boot of a police sedan during his arrest were being investigated and disciplinary procedures could follow he added.