You ever felt like you were facing death in the face? Thought “this is it, this is how I die?”. I have!
This is a story about something I experienced a few years ago…
There’s a place called West Bank in East London; if you’re from around here, I’m sure you’re aware of it. It’s notorious for crime and is just not described as a good place. Look at the time this happened I was unaware of all the crime stories and whatnot, I guess I was very naive.
This one day during work I was talking to my ex-boyfriend and we agreed to meet up after work. We have a very weird relationship to this day I think but not like in a bad way. Anyways, we weren’t on speaking terms and hadn’t been for a while but anyways I agreed to meet up with him.
I got to his place sometime before 5 pm I think and it was summertime so it was very light outside and we went for a drive. We ended up at West Bank beach parked the car, got out and went for a walk along the beach. It was chilled and beautiful actually, real quiet, a bit too quiet. I don’t even remember what we take about and we weren’t there for long because it was getting late. I think everything took place in a space of about 20 to 30 minutes, it wasn’t long.
On the way back to the car, about halfway I think we encounter a guy standing on top a bank (that’s what I’d call it) and at this point, I just thought “FUCK”. He started talking to us and asking where we were from and all that and we were just trying to keep moving back towards the car as quick as possible but then 2 of his friends appeared in front of us and the guy n op of the “hill” jumped down and we were boxed in. They searched our pockets and my boobs and we didn’t really have any valuables on us because we left everything in the car. The guys closest to me spent a little too much time searching my breasts and revealed a weapon that he had tucked in his trousers down the side of his leg, that to me looked like a panga. How one walks around with something like that in their pants is beyond me. They took the watch I was wearing and just as they were leaving one of them turned back and asked my ex to take off his sneakers.
During our encounter with them, which I must add was actually quite brief but felt super long, I tried my best not to look at any of them for fear that they would just decide to kill us for being able to identify them and the only thing that was going through my mind was ” if I die here; no one will ever find me because no one even knows where I am”. I did accidentally look one of them in the eye and their eyes were vacant, they seemed soulless. I am pretty sure he was high in something because that was very eerie and just not normal.
When they left we immediately started running towards the car and when we got there the passenger window was smashed and the boot had been opened via the backseat. They took the 4 cellphones ( 2 were mine and 2 of his ) that were left in the glove box and my entire handbag which I had put in the boot that they managed to access via the backseat. What they had done was smash the passenger window with a rock then unlock the door from the inside which then gave them full access to the car. They must have been in a hurry because my gym bag was also in the boot but they just took my handbag and left it.
The window was still in place, it had a hole in it where they through the rock and the rock was left n the floor. We took the rest of the window off and drove to the police station which wasn’t THAT far away. This was actually my first encounter at a police station ad I would just like to point out something that made zero sense to me. When I asked for a phone to call my parents I was told that they don’t have phones for the public and that theirs were internal only so one of the police actually gave me their personal cellphone to call my parents. Can someone please explain to me how a police station does not have phones for people who go there to make phone calls… I don’t get it. Anyways I called my parents using one of the officers’ phones and told them I wasn’t home yet because I was at the police station but they shouldn’t worry because I was fine.
Funny thing is, when the police asked me what these guys looked like all I came up with was that is was 3 black men, mid to late twenties and they were all skinny. That was all I could come up with but as I said, I tried my best not to look at them for fear of being killed.
We ended up staying at the police station for something like 2 hours because we had to wait for their fingerprint expert to come and they only had one who was busy with a case elsewhere. This also didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. They eventually told us we could leave and they would come to us for the fingerprints so we went home. First I had to drop him off at his place and then drive myself home. My dad got home shortly after I did and he was TERRIFIED.
I had never seen my dad so spooked I mean he told me I could have died. I was numb during and after the whole thing, it’s like my mind and body were on autopilot and I think the reality of all the events n the day only hit me when I went to bed.
That was my worst crime experience ever! I have been a victim of crime many times in my life because hello, this is South Africa but this was the first incident where I thought I might actually die.
It is regrettable how poverty leads to people turning to crime and they end up doing things like this to other human beings. I mean geez man, all I did was go for a damn walk along the fucken beach- the wrong beach I might add. I learned my lesson though guys, don’t worry I never set foot there ever again!
It’s sad how we can’t just enjoy such beautiful scenery without fear of being mugged or killed. That place is beautiful guys but I know better!
