Teenager charged with attempted bank robbery
2006-04-12
A TEENAGER and an accomplice brought the gastronomic capital of South Africa to a virtual standstill on Saturday morning, after allegedly taking a teenage girl and her mother hostage with fake explosives.
This usually bustling part of Franschhoek was cordoned off during the crucial lunchtime leaving hordes of tourists stranded on pavements.
The drama enfolded at 10:00 when an employee of Nedbank in Huguenot Road, Alta Pretorius, was summoned home by her daughter, Diane (16), who claimed not to be feeling well.
The Pretorius family live in a flat above the Nedbank offices.
On arrival, Alta was apprehended by a man wearing a stocking over his face threatening her and her daughter with explosives.
A neighbour and friend of Diane’s was also present when the attack occurred, and he was able to explain in graphic detail what took place.
Johan Smit (17) later said, “We were listening to music when a man wearing a stocking over his head stormed into the flat and ordered us to shut up and sit down.
“Diane’s younger sister, Annolene (15), was still asleep and the man told us to wake her up.”
“I offered him a cigarette and a glass of water, whereafter he pulled an electronic device out of his bag.
“He claimed that it was a C4-bomb and if we moved we would die. He put it on the floor and ordered Diane to sit on it.”
According to a statement made to the press, Johan said that the masked man alleged that if she moved, the bomb would explode and kill her.
He ordered Diane to phone her mother with an excuse to come home.
On Alta’s arrival the man told her that if she did not comply with his demands, her daughter would be blown up.
She explained how the assailant strapped a belt containing what looked like explosives to her waist and instructed her to return to the bank and fill a bag with money.
He handed her a diagram of where she should then leave the money for him to collect and said that if this was not done, she and Diane would be blown to pieces.
He warned her to have the money at the drop-off point within seven minutes.
Alta returned to Nedbank and a bag was filled with R80 000 in cash.
In a state of shock, Alta tried to follow the instructions to the drop-off point, but failed and returned to the bank with the money whereafter she contacted the police.
She also shouted from the window of the flat to leave the area, as there was a bomb.
This led to pandemonium in Huguenot Street with people fleeing in all directions.
The police summoned the bomb-squad who cordoned off the area and did a thorough search, before declaring the bombs on Diane and Alta to be fake.
Franschhoek was virtually brought to a standstill until 13:30, when police re-opened Huguenot Road to the public.
After further investigation, the police arrested a seventeen-year-old college student on Sunday.
The darkhaired suspect lives in the same block of flats as the Pretorius family. He is known to the family and a regular visitor in their home.
A lightbrown-haired friend of his, a 20-year-old waiter with no fixed address, was arrested in the Brooklyn home of a relative on Monday.
His father, an estate agent, has moved from Franschhoek to Langebaan.
The suspects face charges of robbery, intimidation, damage to property and assault.
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