adminCharity Ruzvidzo Chronicle Reporter
A daring Bulawayo woman yesterday survived a high speed car crash when a taxi driver sped off with her and overturned after being confronted about a theft at her house.Witness Hlongwane, the driver (pictured top), flouted traffic rules sometimes driving on the wrong side of the road until the taxi overturned and rolled twice in Bradfield.
After the accident, Hlongwane, attempted to bolt out of the mangled wreckage but 34-year-old Nokuthula Sibanda grabbed him by the legs until three unidentified men who gave chase after hearing her screams for help apprehended him.
Hlongwane was handed to Hillside police and arrested on suspicion of stealing a laptop, iPad and three smart phones belonging to four National University of Science and Technology (Nust) students who reside at Sibanda’s Selbourne Park home.
The students woke up at 6AM yesterday to find their possessions stolen.
They reported the theft to Sibanda who quickly reported the matter to Hillside police.
She searched around the yard for any clues on the theft and found a Telecel SIM card near the students’ cottage which led them to the taxi driver.
“The four students who rent my cottage told me they were missing their laptops, cellphones and one iPad yesterday. We reported the case to Hillside police and made a search around the house to find if there was anything we could use to trace the thief,” she said.
“We used the SIM card to call a number which was saved as ‘sweetheart’. The woman led us to Witness Hlongwane, a taxi driver at Tredgold.”
She said together with the police, she and her husband started searching for Hlongwane who was driving a Pick and Drop taxi around Tredgold Magistrates Courts.
Sibanda was the first to spot the vehicle and she went in alone.
“I saw a taxi that was similar to the one we were looking for and I got in like an ordinary passenger as to avoid suspicion. As soon as l got into the taxi I asked the driver if he had by any chance seen any laptops,” said Sibanda. After asking him that question he quickly drove the car from Tredgold and I started screaming. He was speeding and driving on the wrong lane until we reached Bradfield where the taxi rolled twice.”
Sibanda said she was saved by three unidentified men who had followed the taxi from 12th Avenue after hearing her screams. The men helped her catch Hlongwane after the taxi overturned.
“The men managed to stop the driver from escaping and helped me out of the car,” she said.
Hlongwane’s vehicle was damaged in the accident and the stolen goods were recovered
Online Reporter