Cape Town - A young Cape Town mother is cautioning women to be vigilant when walking around after she was stabbed and almost kidnapped.
Mieshka Achmat, 25, from Parkwood is extremely traumatised and wants people to be aware of two men in an unknown white vehicle who attempted to snatch her on Tuesday while walking to work.
“I usually have transport to work but I took my child to the healthcare centre and was running late.
“I wanted to book an Uber, but it was R75. I don’t work that far and thought I would just walk.
“As I was walking I noticed this white car just standing there parking and as I passed, the car started,” she explained.
Achmat, who has two children, aged three and nine months old, said the car started driving slowly behind her and she hoped she was not being followed.
“I work with my mother and at the time I sent her a voice note telling her I am being followed.
“She was in a meeting. She did not get the message. As I was walking, to make sure these people were really following me I walked down a street and ran a bit ahead. I then walked, I didn’t want them to see me running. The car was driving slowly behind me. I did not know it was a dead-end street,” she explains.
She told IOL she pretended to be looking for a house in the vicinity but had to turn around and pass the vehicle due to it being a dead-end street.
“As I tried walking past the car, I saw two African men. The driver, whose face was covered, and a man in the back seat.
“The man in the back seat then said ‘get in’. I tried walking away but he grabbed me by my hoodie and dragged me into the car. My body was in the car but my feet were still outside.
“I had perfume in my hand. I started fighting. I don’t even know why I didn’t spray the perfume.
“He tried putting a cloth over my face, but I kept fighting,” she told IOL.
The mother then broke down as she recalled just thinking about her children at that horrifying moment.
Her continuous fighting angered the unknown man.
“He got angry because I started hitting him with the perfume and he started hitting me. The one side of my face is filled with scratches.
“He then stabbed me with a knife or blade or something… it all happened so quick.
“A man then came to pull him off me and I just ran without looking back,” Achmat said.
As she ran she got to a crowd of people who work nearby and a man offered to take her to work as she was bleeding.
“I was too afraid to get into the man’s bakkie but people assured me he was okay and he worked at this place.
“I got to work and I was bleeding. My mother got sick when she saw me,” she said.
Achmat said the man who rescued her, a resident from Parkwood, came to her house on Wednesday to check on her wellbeing.
“I know him to be usually scratching in bins and things. He came to our house yesterday to check on me.
“It really is by the grace of God I am alive. Things could have been worse. I am telling my story to make other women aware of the dangers out there,” Achmat said.
The mother did not file charges as she was advised, because she did not have a make, model or partial license plate of the vehicle it would not be taken.
However, Grassy Park Police Station Commander Colonel Dawood Laing has urged her to file charges and said no matter the incident, residents in the area needed to know they cannot be turned away from filing a complaint.
“No matter how small, the person is encouraged to report the complaint to the police. Regardless of where it happened, they must go to their closest police station.
“This will also allow us to deploy more resources in the area and increase patrols as well as be on the lookout for any vehicles, and most importantly, to inform the community,” Laing told IOL.
He has also offered tips to residents:
“We urge anyone who notices they are being followed to enter any property where they see people and ask for help.
“Carry a whistle with you and blow this whistle to draw attention.
“Especially women, we suggest that you walk in areas where there are lots of activities. People do not harm anyone where there's a lot of movement,” Laing added.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
IOL