[Fwd: LOL! Getaway car runs out of petrol]

By Anele Siwa

As far as getaway vehicles go, hiring a taxi with no petrol to transport
stolen goods is probably not the smartest idea.

But this is exactly what two robbers did when residents of a Flats
neighbourhood caught them loading a stolen TV and a bag of clothes into
a cockroach taxi.

To make matters even worse for the hapless pair, the taxi they hired ran
out of petrol and angry residents caught one suspect and beat him up.

The pair broke into the Magcanyana Street house in Hazeldene, near
Philippi, on Tuesday morning.

Angry home owner Themba Sitshiongaye, 37, said a neighbour saw the
stupid pair packing her valuables into a Toyota Tazz.

"My neighbour saw them loading my stuff in a car and she told my
sister," said Sitshiongaye.

"When she tried to stop them, they started pushing their car as it
didn't want to start."

Sitshiongaye said one of the alleged thieves is a relative who knew he
wasn't at home.

"He probably saw me when I was with his sister in their home in
Gugulethu," he said.

Taxi driver and owner Sifiso Madikizela, 17, said he met one suspect in
KTC [informal settlement] near Gugulethu where he hired him.

"He said the goods belonged to him and he promised to pay me R80," he said.

The _underage driver_ said he had driven the men to Sitshiongaye's house
where they started loading a TV, home theatre system and clothes.

As they were driving away, Madikizela's Tazz ran out of petrol. "I told
him to go and buy petrol and he walked to the petrol station," he said.

But as the suspect returned, neighbours saw him and he ran away. His
accomplice also fled.

Unfortunately for the first thief, he was caught near Kwakhikhi,
Gugulethu, and was beaten to a pulp.

"I dont know how I'm going to get my R80 now when he's lying helpless
like this," Madikizela told the Daily Voice. - Daily Voice