SAFETY SPECIAL
Criminal Gang
direction of the Muizenberg Police Station, which was about 1.5km away, and
it felt like the longest, toughest run of my life. My legs felt like lead. I got to the
police station and eventually, after much pleading, managed to get them to
come with me, as I suspected the attackers would’ve still been in the area. It’s
a massive relief that we managed to catch them and get the gun, which was
fully loaded and ready for use!”
“It is a complete miracle that I walked away unharmed, and I thank God for that.
In the words of the policeman taking my statement, ‘Lady, do you know how
lucky you are to be alive?’ It turned out that the three already had warrants out
on them for other crimes, but it took a full year for the court case to take place,
with me constantly having to follow-up with the police. They are so understaffed
and service such a large area that it felt like a losing battle at times.”
“After the incident, and a range of every kind of emotion one can imagine in
the days after – I did go for trauma counselling – I went on to the community
Facebook page to alert the locals of what had happened and requested that if
anyone had experienced something similar, to please go to the police station,
as their attackers may have been the same guys that attacked me. It’s so
important to report these things, I cannot emphasise that enough.”
R
unning within the safety of well-organised events is a great way to
experience new routes and venues, with marshals and fellow runners
to maintain your security, but when not running in an organised event,
group runs remain a key first line of defence. One runner who swears by the
power of having a running crew is Kerry Red (above centre, making victory
sign) from Cape Town, who was attacked in March 2017. “It was a pretty
typical Monday morning, I woke up, put on my running shoes and headed out
on my usual pre-work morning run from Muizenberg to Kalk Bay and back.
I had been doing this same run most mornings for more than three years
without incident.”
“As I hit the post button, I noticed the post directly under mine. Incredibly, it
read ‘We are a newly formed group of trail runners in the area. If you are keen
to join us for a run, get in touch.’ Well, this was just heaven sent! Up until that
point I had been running on my own on the road, as I didn’t really have any
other options, but after my incident, the amount of loved ones begging me to
quit running, or saying ‘please don’t run on your own,’ was overwhelming.”
“I had actually strapped on my shoes and gone for a run the day after my attack,
because I do not want to live in fear, but I got into contact with the Muizenberg
Trail Dawgs and joined the group, and it has been so incredible. We have all
become great friends and the group has grown so much over the past year and
a half. I am, in some strange way, so very grateful that everything happened the
way that it did, as something so awesome came out of such a horrible incident.
We’ve built such strong friendships as a result, and a group of the ‘Dawgs’ even
accompanied me to court when I was asked to testify. They have been such a
great support.”
“From Muizenberg to St James, I ran along what is known as ‘The Catwalk,’
a great pathway between the train tracks and the ocean. I love running there.
I noticed a guy with a bicycle who I had seen earlier, on my way to Kalk
Bay, and I got a bad feeling about him, but there were other people about.
There was a girl on the bench tying her shoe, and there was another runner
up ahead, about to disappear on the path, so I thought it must be safe. As I
passed the guy, and then the girl, a man with a hoodie stepped out from the
tunnel that runs underneath the train tracks to the road. I tried to pass but he
blocked me and in that split second I knew.”
“I immediately started to scream as loud as possible, so much so that I didn’t
have a voice for a week! He pulled a gun out and held it to my stomach, and
with the other hand he started grabbing at me. I fought back, all the while
screaming, and but when I looked to the side, I noticed that the ‘lookout’ and
the girl tying her shoe were involved in this as well. Eventually he had me
pinned down on my haunches against the wall, but I was still fighting back
and screaming as loud as I possibly could.”
“The thing that saved me was that two people close by heard me screaming.
They shouted back from the tunnel, then came to investigate the screaming
and witnessed the scene. This startled my attacker and gave me the slightest
gap to get away. I climbed over the train tracks and started running in the
The reality is that we all need to apply some practical
thinking to our training patterns, and work as a community
to protect each other and our sport
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