'I was beaten and robbed because train was late'

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Cape Town - A Cape Town man claims he was robbed, choked and beaten up because of Metrorail train delays. Lindsay Naidoo, 46, says he was left with a blue eye when he was forced to walk home to Wetton after missing his connecting train on Heathfield Station, because the previous train he boarded at Claremont Station had been nearly 30 minutes late. On his way home, he was beaten up and robbed by two people, who stole his Blackberry Z3, his wallet containing his identity document, his PDP (driver’s permit), two bottles of wine, R100 cash and food. The alleged incident happened on Saturday evening. Naidoo, who is a fitter and turner, and driver, says he had been job hunting and copies of his curriculum vitae were also taken.

“I had been waiting for the train to Heathfield since 4.33pm and it only arrived at 4.50pm,” he explains.

“And because of this, I missed the connecting train to Wetton. I decided to walk because I didn’t want to wait on the station as it was already after 6pm.”

Then when he asked a man and a woman for directions, they attacked him.

“They gave me directions but as they walked off, the girl suddenly told me to give them all that I have,” he said.

“They man choked me from behind and beat me. He had me on the ground. While he was beating me, she was robbing me.

“Afterwards, no one wanted to help me probably because of the blood streaming down my face, but eventually a neighbourhood watch member came to my aid and called police.”

Naidoo blames Metrorail for his ordeal.

“This would not have happened if I didn’t miss the connecting train because the other was late.”

Lieutenant-Colonel Andre Traut, confirms: “The complainant of Wetton alleged that he was walking home on a field in Roscommon [Road in] Heathfield because there were no trains available.

“No arrests have been made and Steenberg police have opened a case of robbery.”

Metrorail’s Riana Scott did not comment on this particular incident by on Wednesday night, but said earlier that commuters could expect delays of an hour due to vandalism.

Cables had apparently been stolen which affected service on many routes.

Daily Voice