Bay biokineticist testifies about kidnapping

Gun-toting assailants, hasty moves to three different hiding places, life-documenting films, a botched money drive, and suspicious negotiations over the price of her freedom.

These are some of the revelations that came to light when 27-year-old biokineticist from Gqeberha, Riana Pretorius, testified for the first time about her harrowing eight-day kidnapping.

Pretorius burst into tears as she described hearing her dad’s voice on the phone as she, dazed and confused, ran to safety after securing a R1-million ransom.

Xolisile Rawutini and Xolani Kafile were charged with the kidnapping that took place on March 16 last year outside Pretorius’ Newton Park workplace.

Pretorius told state spokesman Benedict Wilson that she arrived at work shortly before 8 a.m. and began parking her vehicle.

Upon arrival, she noticed a white Toyota Corrolla leaving one of the parking spaces.

Ignoring it, Pretorius went to the passenger side of the car to grab her things.

At that moment, she had her cell phone in her hand because Pretorius was busy texting her mother to let her know that she had arrived at work safely.

According to her testimony, before she could click “send”, she was accosted by three armed men in hoods and balaclavas.

Instinctively thinking it was a robbery, Pretorius threw her phone into the back of the car.

She said one of the men took her phone from the car and two others forcibly pulled her into the Corolla.

The court heard that at one point the kidnappers switched vehicles and a bag was placed over Pretorius’ head.

On the way, she was told to unlock her phone and remember her mom and dad’s phone numbers before the phone was likely thrown out the window.

Shelter houses

She described the first place she was held captive as a “dark building.”

“It had a plastic floor filled with sand, and when it rained there was a sound like a zinc roof.

– I thought I was in a shack.

It was here that Pretorius was asked for her dad’s phone number and where a life-documenting photo was first taken.

Pretorius testified that at one point she was moved to a different location and a room that had a brown floor, yellow walls and boarded up windows.

As her kidnappers prepared to transfer Pretorius a third time, she was taken to a vehicle that she believed had “sliding doors” with her bag still over her head.

“I heard children playing around me and people talking, but no one did anything.”

According to Pretorius, the third location gave the impression of a large building with an uphill driveway and large tiled floors.

Here, “the entire bathroom was blue, including the tiles, walls, floor and sink.

It was here that two kidnappers told her that her dad had been contacted about the money, where live video evidence was shot, and where the frustrated attackers returned after their failed money-drop attempt.

The court heard how Pretorius lost track
days, dates and times while the new negotiations with her dad were completed.

One evening, after the men returned, she heard bags being closed and calculator keys clicking.

“I could tell from their tone that they were happy this time.

“One of them said the load was R1m.”

Issue

That night, Pretorius was prepared for release, and one of her captors gave her a “hoodie” because it was cold.

She told state attorney Benedict Wilson that she still had the bag over her head and was pushed into the seat.

“They asked me if I wanted to be dropped off at the police station or somewhere else.

“I remembered them saying they had friends in the police, so I asked them to give me a ride there,” Pretorius said.

The kidnappers gave her a cell phone and instructed her to run and not look back once the bag was removed from her head.

She was also told to throw away her used phone and jacket (hoodie).

“When they took the bag off my head, I ran away.

Pretorius remembers running past what looked like a garbage dump and a shack with a red door.

“I ran and ran.

“When I finally managed to unlock the phone, it opened to a number. I didn’t know whose number it was, but I just dialed it.

“While I was running, the number rang. I saw lights over the hill and they were coming from the garage.

“Just when I thought the person on the other end of the phone wasn’t going to answer, my dad answered the phone,” Pretorius testified, fighting back tears.

Pretorius told his father he didn’t know where he was.

She reached the garage and asked the woman to explain to her dad where they were.

When the woman returned the phone, she ended the call.

The phone was no longer able to make any calls, so Pretorius wasn’t sure if the woman had told her dad where to find her.

The car repair shop security received her, closed the door and asked if they should call the police.

To this Pretorius replied: “No. My dad gaan, my kom haal. (No. My dad will take me)

The bakkie later stopped in the garage.

“It was a policeman and my dad,” Pretorius told the court.

Pretorius will continue his cross-examination with Kafile’s lawyer, Wayne Mac Gear, on Tuesday.