When this schoolboy hijacker ran in front of a motorist’s car in South Africa and aimed a gun at his head, he knew there was only one thing to do – hit the accelerator!
Corporate manager Mario Campbell, 28, was slowing down at traffic lights in a township near Cape Town when a teenager calmly walked out into the dual carriageway.
As the attacker raised his gun, the terrified father of two’s car engine can be heard roaring as he floors the pedal and aims his Toyota Agyo straight at him.
This incredible dashcam video shows the hapless young criminal realising too late that 1.3 tons of speeding car is about to hit him.
The wannabe teenage hijacker is somersaulted over the left side of the bonnet and lands on his back in the road at Khayelitsha township, where 2.5 million people live in poverty in shacks.
The teen robber was seen wielding a gun as he tried going for Mr Campbell’s car
Mario Campbell immediately decided to accelerate into the robber
The armed crook quickly realised he wasn’t going to slow down
The attempted robbery took place in South Africa’s Khayelitsha township, where 2.5 million live in poverty in shacks
Mr Campbell refused to comment for fear of reprisals after injuring the gunman
The young crook, who has not yet been identified, can be seen hurling over the left side of the car
This wasn’t the first time corporate manager Mario Campbell was attacked by armed robbers
Mr Campbell – who has an another incredible video showing him escaping a hijack by an axeman on the same stretch of road at the previous set of traffic lights 200 yards away – is then seen speeding off.
The businessman told friends on Facebook: ‘First a maniac with an axe trying to smash his way into my car then a kid who should have been at school holding me up with a handgun!
‘That is it dudes I am taking a different way into work from now on – I just want to go to work and come home to my family safe’.
Thousands took to social media supporting Mr Campbell as his video went viral praising him for taking the law into his own hands and hailed him a ‘hero’ for fighting back against criminals.
Community leader Bongile Zanazo said the Mew Way Bridge where Mr Campbell was targeted on the M32 by the entrance to Khayelitsha was a hotspot for car-jackings at gunpoint and knifepoint.
He said: ‘We are aware of the various crimes incidents that keep happening there and have put into place an stiff action plan to combat it but the details of that are being kept top secret.
‘We also implore the City of Cape Town to deploy more police officers to the area to prevent these crimes taking place’ he said.
The first 28 second video shows Mr Campbell driving along the highway behind a station wagon and a minibus taxi as he slows down to allow a car to turn right when the gunman suddenly appears.
The youth had been waiting in ambush sitting on a crash barrier and is believed to have approached his target having seen the company logo on the car, knowing it would contain valuables.
Mr Campbell refused to comment for fear of reprisals after injuring the gunman who escaped back into the maze of shacks but a close friend said: ‘He is a very brave man.
‘Three months before, at almost the same spot, a robber with an axe went after him but he got away and now he has run over a gunman – that is twice and you can only be lucky so many times.
‘He now takes another route to and from work and is fully aware of his surroundings at every set of traffic lights’ she said.
Mr Campbell has had several close calls in the past few months
Axe-wielding robbers tried attacking him in June
He managed to capture the terrifying incident on a dashcam
It is understood the thieves who menace dozens of miles of the local roads target company cars that are marked as it is likely they have laptops and expensive equipment inside
It is understood the thieves who menace dozens of miles of the local roads target company cars that are marked as it is likely they have laptops and expensive equipment inside.
The local Khayelitsha Police Station has more car hijackings reported than any other police station in South Africa and each year the country suffers over 22,000 such car incidents.
Local Crime Watch volunteer Juwa Dimande said: ‘If you stop at a red traffic light, as a law abiding citizen would of course do, you are putting yourself at risk of an attack or even death.
‘They will smash your window and if you resist them they will shoot you. Simple as that. All the traffic lights do in Khayelitsha is change colour – nobody stops for them. It’s too dangerous.
‘Even ambulances attending emergencies to save the lives of the township people are attacked and robbed and hijacked.’
On June 30, Mr Campbell’s dashcam video, which also records inside the car, picked up two men walking alongside his car on the passenger side as he pulled up at traffic lights.
It was just 200 yards from the set of lights where the schoolboy tried to hijack him with a gun earlier this month.
The footage shows two men knocking on his passenger window to distract him while a third robber armed with a vicious axe pulls it out from under his jacket and tries to smash his window.
Fortunately the blade bounces off the Toyota Agya window allowing Mr Campbell to hit the accelerator and speed off to safety.
His attack at gunpoint is the second recent robbery attempt in which a motorist has fought back after driver Sandy-Lee Ward was caught on CCTV being robbed of her handbag in her car.
Sandy-Lee Ward was caught on CCTV being robbed of her handbag in her car
South African Police have confirmed that they would take no further action against her but would take her victim to court for aggravated robbery when he is well enough to leave hospital
She about to put in her ticket to open a car park barrier when two robbers suddenly forced her car door open
The robbers were seen running for their lives after Ms Ward hit them
Ms Ward became something of a local hero in South Africa after she fended off her attackers
Ms Ward , 45, was sitting in her Toyota Tazz in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province, and about to put in her ticket to open a car park barrier when two robbers suddenly forced her car door open.
One reached in and snatched a gold chain from around her neck, one grabbed her handbag, one raced to a waiting getaway car and the other ran across the forecourt of a nearby garage.
Furious Ms Ward hit the accelerator and can be seen charging through the lowered barrier, before accelerating straight toward the robber fleeing with her handbag.
A second CCTV camera in the garage shows a South African Police vehicle park up, while the robber is seeing running for his life and Ms Ward races her Toyota up right behind him.
She hits him hard with the car bonnet and he is propelled 25 feet through the air landing on his back but drops the handbag containing her ID, phone, house keys, purse and credit cards.
Ms Ward said: ‘A petrol attendant ran over and picked up my handbag from the robber then ran over and gave it back to me and laughed and said “Well done sister, you got one!”
‘I drove off and the police car chased me as it thought I was a hit and run but when I stopped and explained what happened they turned round and went and arrested the injured robber.
‘I just saw red when he stole my handbag and don’t remember driving through the boom and I don’t remember planning to run him over but I know I did hit him bloody hard and got him.
‘I’m glad I never killed him but am also very glad I got my stolen handbag back’ she said.
Ms Ward became the heroine of social media like Mr Campbell, as her video also went viral with a number of lawyers offering to defend her for free if he police charged her.
But South African Police have confirmed that they would take no further action against her but would take her victim to court for aggravated robbery when he is well enough to leave hospital.
South Africa is one of the most dangerous countries in the world with some 76 murders a day and over 120 reported rapes.
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