[imagesource:facebook]

A tourist’s lovely walk through the colourful streets of the Bo-Kaap turned into a traumatic experience when a robber came up from behind to steal her phone.

The mugging reportedly took place on Sunday when the 28-year-old South Korean woman was shooting a selfie video while walking down Chiappini Street.

Cape Argus reports that some of the incident was caught on her camera and shared on Facebook:

The man can be seen choking the woman while trying to snatch her cellphone. As the woman screamed for help, a man appeared and rescued her, while the perpetrator ran away.

The footage is disturbing:

Robbery in Bo-Kaap (Video from Facebook) pic.twitter.com/gkvWfutuvD

— miscellaneous madness (@plasticpoppies) April 13, 2023

Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, said the City was trying to verify the authenticity of the video:

“Together with Cape Town SAPS detectives, members from Law Enforcement began following up leads and searching for the suspect, a homeless person who had since vacated his fixed residence in Bonteheuwel and had taken up residence in one of the tented camps in the Bo-Kaap area.

Apparently, they located the victim just as she was about to leave South Africa when she agreed to make a case:

“A warrant has since been issued for the alleged attacker and the City is supporting SAPS in the tracing of the suspect, who is currently evading the police,” added Smith.

Bo-Kaap Neighbourhood Watch (NHW) on Facebook says the perpetrator is one of the “car guards” in Wale Street and has been known to target women and older people:

Bo-Kaap NHW chairperson Ebrahim Christian said there were “a lot of these criminals along Wale Street, pretending to be car guards”.

Christian said the tourists were partly to blame for navigating the area with their devices and equipment exposed, without guides. “She was fortunate she was not stabbed or harmed, as these criminals become aggressive when they do not get what they want,” he said.

Eish, a little bit of victim blaming there, but I guess we locals sommer know not to walk around Cape Town with our goods on show.

[source:capeargus]