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Pensioner shot in her driveway
13/09/2004 08:42  - (SA)  

Nicolene Louw, Die Burger

Cape Town - A woman from Tygerdal was wounded in a wild shootout in the driveway of her house after five armed men tried to hijack her car on Sunday afternoon.

Pensioner Retha Ackermann, 60, was wounded in the hip at her house in Frangipane Street shortly after 16:00 on Sunday.

Ackermann and her husband, Dirk Ackermann, 62, had just returned from Bloubergstrand when they were attacked.

"We had just parked and when I walked back to close the gate, the man was suddenly standing in front of me. Before I could even ask him what he wanted, he pressed a pistol against my head and demanded my car keys. Another man forced Retha into the back of the car," Ackermann said on Sunday night.

'I pulled out my gun'

"I gave him my keys and when he turned his back, I pulled out my firearm and shot at them.

"Retha suddenly fell on the ground and shouted that she had been shot. My first reaction was to help her. When I moved in her direction, the men ran, jumped in a car and sped away," he said.

He said everything happened so quickly that he could not identify the make of car in which the men had fled.

"We have been living in this area for 24 years and something like this has never happened," Ackermann said.

Mrs Ackermann, who was admitted to hospital, was in a lot of pain on Sunday night, but she was conscious. She will undergo an operation on Monday to have the bullet, which is lodged near her spine, removed.

Police are searching for the men

She also has cuts to her face and hands because the men allegedly tried to use her as a shield and then threw her down on the ground when the shooting started.

Inspector Elliota Sinyangana, police spokesperson, confirmed that he attack took place and said police have launched a search for the four men.

Eyewitnesses said the suspects' red Toyota Corolla was parked about 50m from the Ackermanns' home. They did not manage to catch the last three numbers of the number plate before the suspects fled in the direction of Goodwood.

Five eyewitnesses who live in the area have already made statements. Mr Ackermann's gun has been confiscated.