A Robin Trust nurse is recovering in hospital after being shot in both legs during a hijacking in Nyanga.
Belinda Skippers had left the trust’s Pinelands office to provide home-based care to a client in the township, on Wednesday August 17, at about 10am, when a man approached her at a traffic light and shot her through the diver’s side window and door, said Robin Trust spokeswoman Aletia Ritter.
With bullet wounds in both legs, Sister Skippers was pulled from the vehicle – a Toyota Avanza bearing the trust’s corporate logo – and the hijacker drove off in it, taking Sister Skipper’s handbag, cellphone and other personal possessions as well as medical equipment, including a blood-pressure monitor, a glucose meter and urine test strips.
“A minibus taxi driver saw Sister Skippers slumped on the floor and came to her aid and drove her to Vincent Pallotti hospital where she is still in recovery and had to be operated on the same evening due to the injuries sustained from the shooting,” Ms Ritter said.
The taxi driver had let Sister Skippers use his phone so she could tell her employer what had happened, said Ms Ritter.
According to Ms Ritter, the Avanza was found abandoned later that morning in Bishop Lavis
Robin Trust reported the crime to Bishop Lavis police.
Robin Trust is a non-profit in Pinelands that provides nursing services and home-based care. It also has a sub-acute facility that cares for the elderly and frail.
Provincial police spokesman Captain FC van Wyk said they were investigating an attempted murder and carjacking.
“The case was opened at Bishop Lavis police for investigation last Wednesday August 17 and then the case was transferred to Nyanga police for further investigation.”
Captain Van Wyk said no arrests had been made.
Robin Trust manager Corlea Viljoen said it was a tragedy that, in Women’s Month, a nurse going out to provide a health service to the community was violently attacked.
“We are indebted to the taxi driver for helping Sister Skippers during her time of need, and we know that she is getting good help from the hospital staff.”
The taxi driver who helped Sister Skippers did not wish to be identified or speak to the media.
