A Durban woman who ran over a robber says she refuses to be a victim of crime.
Two men were captured on CCTV approaching Sandy-Lee Ward's car, opening her door and snatching her handbag.
The footage of the incident has gone viral.
Ward, who is from the Bluff, says she was waiting for the boom gate at a local mall to open on Wednesday when she was accosted.
"So they were pulling on me, pulling on my head, my body, they were hitting me on my face and hitting me from ear to ear. They were trying to get me out of the car, but they couldn't because I had my safety belt on and when they tried to get the keys, they broke the key part off in the ignition, and the other part fell my feet.
“It was when they were trying to find the safety belt to rip me out of the car, that's when they saw my bag, and they grabbed my bag, and they ripped my chain off my neck, and that's when they ran."
Ward says she did not want to lose her bag as it contained her house keys and important information.
She decided to go after one of the perpetrators and drove through the boom gate.
Ward says she did not intend to hit him.
"All I know is I saw my bag and that man's hands, and I needed my belongings back. I just prayed, 'Lord, lord, those are my things. And I promise you, the next minute, I know I was from one point to the next.
"I was through the boom and onto the grass, and I wanted to follow the man to see where he had taken my bag. But I drove with such adrenalin and so much fear. I shot right through the boom, and boom! I hit him."
Ward had told Newswatch she was acting in self-defence.
"He couldn't take my life from me, they didn't shoot me, they didn't cut my neck with a blade. That is my life that I fought for."
Police say a case of common robbery is being investigated.
One suspect has been arrested while Ward managed to recover her handbag.
This story first appeared on ECR.
