WATCH: Mercedes driver thwarts violent attack on woman on Joburg street
CCTV footage shows a Mercedes driver intervening in a GBV attack in Johannesburg on December 9.
Image: Screengrab via Facebook
Taking an alternative route to avoid traffic resulted in a heroic moment for a Mercedes driver in Johannesburg, who managed to thawt a gender-based violence (GBV) attack against a woman in the street.
In a viral post on Facebook, the driver’s spouse, Jude Harpstar, said she and her husband had taken a different route on December 9 after traffic had backed up on Sylvia’s Pass. Driving along Aster Road in Linksfield, they then came across a struggle happening on the side of the road.
At first, they thought it was a robbery, but closer inspection revealed it was a male attacker allegedly punching and wrestling a female.
The driver of the silver Mercedes ML500 screamed out of his window for the attacker to stop, but to no avail. As seen on CCTV footage of the incident, the driver then used his vehicle to push the attacker away from the female, so that she could escape.
According to the spouse, the driver felt this was the only thing he could do as he wasn’t armed and the couple had their young baby in the car.
However, things suddenly got scarier as the attacker allegedly pulled out a knife and attempted to stab the victim. The Mercedes driver then reversed into him so that the victim could escape.
“While he was doing all this, I called ADT to meet us where the attacker was. We followed the attacker until ADT showed up (about 6 min later, amazing!) and cornered him and arrested him,” Harpstar said.
“We have since made contact with the lady, and she is very sore, bruised, and traumatised, but very grateful to be alive.”
She said they were eternally grateful that they were divinely led to this horrible scenario, where they could save her life and have this violent criminal arrested.
“We urge the rest our society to be brave and to help your fellow human being where you can, and of course to assess the scenario before acting.
“Here’s to another life saved, a life that did not become part of a statistic!” Harpstar said.
IOL News