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That image above is terrifying, and you don’t even know the whole story yet.

Facebook group ‘Hout Bay Organised’ was in full voice yesterday, after two people posted about being mugged on Table Mountain.

The picture up top was posted by Michael, and came with the following text:

Just got mugged by this guy… Sentinel watching dungeons… Be careful out there

The group is ‘members only’, so unless you’re already on that group you won’t be able to view the post.

One comment is pretty alarming:

This chap is known, has previously been charged with murder and is somehow out and threatening to kill others. How is this even possible? Should be scooped up by SAPS and held until trial where hopefully he will be removed from society for a long time.

Later in the day Garth wrote something a little longer titled “The anatomy of a mountain hijacking”.

Here’s what he had to say:

I’ve always wondered what I would do if threatened by thugs on the mountain… today I found out. As a thoroughbred male my instinct is always to fight back and until today I always have and have the battle scars to prove it. In fact I can’t think of a time I’ve ever backed down from confrontation, but today was different, very different! The person we encountered today was a pure psychopath.

He introduced himself by saying he has lived in jail and wants to go back… I am not scared to get hurt and would love to die. This was what he said after saying hello to him. Within moments he was crying and laughing whilst slashing a knife around wildly promising we would all die today. For 25 minutes probably we stood around whilst he threw rocks at out heads and jabbed at us with a seriously scary knife. None of us knew what to do.

One thing we were certain of was that we’d be stabbed if we tried getting anywhere near to him. To cut a long story short, after demanding our phones and money we refused. I eventually realised his drug fueled frenzy could only be stopped by giving him something. Eventually I flashed R300 in front of him. You can only have this money if you run away right now otherwise I will fight to the death. He took the money and laughing his head off casually strolled down the mountain to his two friends waiting down below.

Did we do the right thing ? YES !!!! Turns out he is an infamous chap convicted of murder and somehow released from prison. I don’t know what the correct approach should’ve been but I think we did the right thing. Drugs, especially TIK changes people into demons with nothing to lose and zero fear. I feel sadness about this man’s life but the reality is this is what you too could encounter.

My advice is to definitely not fight back unless you have no choice. You will get stabbed or killed. Diffuse the situation, get to safety, and then call for assistance, or earlier if possible. We called for help but no one came even after an hour. No police at all. You are alone up there at end of the day. We saw him and his friends waiting for us down below so opted for a very dangerous descent down a sheer cliff to safety. I have a better understanding now of what police face every day.

Drug fueled madness is unpredictable. No normal fight, no rules. Life or death. Don’t count on any immediate support from anyone on the mountain. Negotiate, Diffuse the situation, and survive to live another adventure. Tomorrow we hike again ! Next time I hike there in a few days I will wear camo instead of a bright white t-shirt. Have a wonderful evening all.

ps I love the people of Hangberg and have so many friends there. This idiot does not represent Hangberg. He represents TIK.

Yeah, that’s pretty damn terrifying.

Just be sure that you’re walking with a decent-sized group, at the very least, because madmen like these seem to place little to no value on human life.

We know that the SAPS are stretched thin, but given how prevalent these incidents are surely they can do a little better?

In case you missed this from last year check out GroundUp’s brilliant (and controversial) article – “Table Mountain’s easy targets: On the trail with a Hout Bay mugger“.

[sources:facebook&facebook]