Man swims away from robbers

Port Elizabeth - A businessman and triathlete says he saw his life flashing before his eyes when he was attacked near the Willows resort.

Eldon Leonard, 33, had gone to take photos of a whale carcass on Wednesday afternoon when he suddenly found himself at the mercy of four robbers.

Keeping a cool head, he managed to free himself and swam 5km in the sea to his freedom. He has taken part in the Iron Man competition.

Leonard - who owns Ubuntu Hygiene Cleaners - had been taking photos of the carcass because he had wanted to remove it from the rocks on behalf of the city council, due to the unbearable stench and health dangers it posed.

While taking photos, he noticed the men walking towards him. He suddenly had an uneasy feeling about it, and phoned a colleague.

The men grabbed him and took his phone, upon which he freed himself from their grip and fled up a dune. They followed him, grabbed him yet again, and took his car keys from his pocket.

Leonard said: "I kept thinking, 'Here we go again', because I also experienced an armed robbery three years ago."

Three of them waited with Leonard, while the fourth ran to fetch the car.

They shoved him into the car and sat on top of him so that nobody could see him.

They drove about 10km with him, to the nudist beach on Cape Recife road, and then turned off onto a small gravel road.

While on this road, they encountered a VW Golf. They hijacked the young couple in the Golf as well, shoved them in the car, and drove to the parking area at the beach with the three victims and two cars.

"It was there that I really got scared. They constantly threatened to shoot and kill us and made a joke about it.

"They tied me and the other man up with shoelaces and slapped us until our ears were ringing." Leonard said the robbers then demanded that they give the PIN numbers of their bank cards, so that they could withdraw all the money in their accounts.

Then, all of a sudden, an army helicopter happened to fly over their heads and gave the robbers a huge fright.

That gave the three victims a chance to escape. The couple fled up a dune and Leonard jumped in the ocean and swam away.

About 5km further, at the Main Right look-out point in Cape Recife, he climbed out of the water and ran to the main road. That's where his worried colleagues found him.

Inspector Johan Raubenheimer of the Humewood police station said the robbers have not been caught yet, but both vehicles have been recovered.

"If you really must go and visit that area, just make sure you're in a group of friends. The robbers check you out thoroughly, they want your money," was Raubenheimer's warning to the public.

- Die Burger