G-West woman suffers miscarriage after hijack ordeal

When Tsaone Rodgers set off for a church concert at Maharaj Conference Centre on Saturday evening, she never once imagined that a few hours later she would be hijacked and kidnapped right in front of her home.

The doting wife and Vivo Energy Marketing Executive's  ordeal sounds like an episode from a drama series. On Saturday evening at around 10pm, the 28-year-old arrived at her home in Gaborone West driving her black Toyota Runx. While waiting for the gate to open, she saw two men charging towards her car. Alarmed, she furiously pressed the remote but the gate seemed jammed. Everything happened fast, she says from a hospital bed at Gaborone Private Hospital this Monday.

One of the men made a beehive for her and strangled her before grabbing her by the stomach. Somehow, during the wrangle, she threw the gate key over the wall, hoping help would come from inside. Her husband was inside the yard but was not aware of the commotion outside.  The whole neighbourhood was quiet and there wasn’t a single soul in sight because it was raining.

The hijackers then bundled her into the back seat of her car. “They started beating me up and drove off with me inside,” she says.  Rodgers says that she remembers their faces very well. “One seemed to be between 45 and 50 years and another one looks to be in around 25- 30. There was a lot of light around my house and I could see everything clearly,” she says. She adds that their Setswana had a hint of the South Africa variation accent.  On the way, she says, they were discussing how they were going to cross the border, but they had fear because they said they were not carrying any driver’s licence.

Rodgers says that she could not see where the car was going because one of the men was sitting literally on her head on the back seat. Whenever she pleaded with him to release her, he slapped her. “I was helpless and just remained quiet all the way, the only thing I could do was to pray, although my neck was very painful. It was only when he moved off my head that I could see we were in Otse,” she says.

The hijackers kept driving on and on the way, just after the roundabout towards Ramatlabama in Lobatse, they demanded that she gives them her debit card. It was at that point that the car slowed down and when she least expected, the man next to her opened the car door and pushed her out. They then sped away, leaving her sprawling in pain after rolling off the road.  “It was about midnight, and I managed to lift myself up. I had no option but to walk back to Lobatse. I tried to flag down passing motorists but they ignored me. I even walked in the middle of the road but motorists just hooted and drove past me while others opened their windows and shouted if I was a ghost,” she said.

She made it to the Crescent School turn off, and went to the GIPS hostel where she knocked on windows and pleaded for help. A few boys peeped from their windows and called her a ghost. “I cried but they just laughed, saying that I might be a witch preparing to fly. It took more than an hour of begging them to at least direct me to the nearest police station with no success.”

By then she was freezing cold and exhausted. Two men who were returning from a party and saw her lying on the road eventually saved Rodgers. They dropped her off at the Lobatse police station. “The police took me to the hospital for check ups and took statements before making contact with my family who then came to Lobatse as well,” she says. The car would later be found along the Lobatse-Ramatlabama road at around 4am.

Lobatse Station Commander Photshanyana Mogatsaseno said she did not have full information on the matter as she was off duty over the weekend.On the other hand, Officer in Charge at Gaborone West Criminal Investigations, Assistant Superintendent Tlotlanang Mogwase said while he was aware of the incident, he was not in a position to comment as investigations are underway.

The woman, who was three months pregnant, was first attended at Athlone Hospital in Lobatse but would later be admitted at GPH where she was told she had lost the baby. She however could not be drawn into discussing the miscarriage further, saying she did not want to talk about it.

Meanwhile, another woman in Gaborone West also reported a case of car theft after hijackers took off with her Honda Fit while she was opening the gate to her yard on Saturday night. Gaborone West Police Station Commander Howard Modo said that they had attended to the matter. “ We received that report in the morning and the car was found parked in Phase 1. We have not arrested anyone,” he said.