WATCH | Pietermaritzburg woman caught off-guard by brazen robbers

A Pietermaritzburg woman was caught off-guard by robbers who took seconds to rob her of her handbag and cellphone in the city centre. 

CCTV footage shows the woman walking on a pavement with her handbag on her right shoulder and a cellphone to her ear. A white car stops next to a parked vehicle. A man gets out of the white car and is joined by more suspects from the parked vehicle.  

He casually walks behind the woman before stopping next to her and grabbing her handbag. His accomplice is nearby. Both men jump into the parked vehicle, which speeds off.  

The victim and onlookers run to the road and point towards the getaway vehicle unaware that the white car, which brought the robber to the scene, is parked in a bay in front of them.

Two weeks ago, a Bluff woman’s handbag was stolen from her car when she waited for a boom gate to open at the exit of a shopping centre. The woman, Sandy-Lee Ward, chased after the suspect and hit him with her car. The 28-year-old man, who is in hospital under police guard, is expected to appear in court on Friday.  

Less than two months ago, an unsuspecting woman was dragged to the ground by a robber who was after her cellphone in Musgrave Road in Durban. 

CCTV footage shows the man grabbing the woman and wrestling her for her phone and purse. She then falls on her face on the roadside. 

Customers and staff from a bakery ran out to rescue the woman and apprehend the man. However, he fled in a getaway car parked outside the venue. 

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