Chapter 12

HIJACKING

Hijacking is a specific form of robbery in which the type of property taken by force or threat of force is a motor vehicle. In South Africa between 1995 and 1998, hijacking with a firearm increased by 55.7% from 6 683 to 15 111 reported incidents annually.



In this research, conclusions are drawn from 80 incidents analysed, which comprised 10.2% of the docket sample.



The majority of hijacking incidents occurred between 12h00 and 24h00. Hijacking incidents were evenly distributed throughout this period.



The majority of hijacking incidents (80.2%) occurred in the inner city or central business district. Other significant locations where hijacking incidents occurred were private residential properties (4.7%) and public residential spaces (7.0%).



Hijacking is a property crime and, as a result, the victim of the crime (95%) usually reported it to the police.



Police detection of hijacking incidents is low. It was found that 87.5% of all hijacking incidents are undetected. This implies that there are insufficient leads to investigate such cases.



Of the 80 hijacking incidents, it was found that 87.5% (70 incidents) were undetected and 5% (four incidents) were withdrawn. In those cases where action was taken against the offender, it was found that four offenders received a prison sentence (ranging from five to 14 years), and in two cases, the offenders were acquitted.



In the 80 hijacking incidents, 279 people were involved: 190 offenders and 89 victims. On average, 3.49 people were involved in each incident. For every one incident, 2.38 offenders and 1.1 victims were involved. The ratio of victims to offenders is 1:2.13. In 97.5% of the incidents, victims and offenders did not know one another.



In the 80 hijacking incidents, 127 firearms and six other weapons were involved. Of the firearms involved, 114 were held by offenders and 13 by victims.



It was found that 98.4% of offenders were male. The race profile of the sample of offenders was as follows: 2.2% white; 0.5% Asian; 19.8% coloured; and 77.5% African. There was insufficient information to provide a valid profile of the age, vocation or employment status of offenders.



It was found that 89.9% of hijacking victims were male and 10.1% were female. The race profile of victims was as follows: 10.2% white; 44.3% African; 30.7% coloured; and 14.8% Asian. In terms of age, 42.7% were between the ages of 21 to 30 years, while 35.4% were between the ages of 31 to 50 years. Overall, 84.1% of victims were employed.



It was found that 60% of offenders had firearms, 36.8% had no weapon and 3.2% had another type of weapon (such as a knife or panga). The majority of offenders carried handguns: 88.1% carried pistols and 4.2% carried revolvers. One offender used a licenced firearm.



It was found that 13 (14.6%) of the 89 victims carried firearms. Victims carried the following firearms: eight handguns, two shotguns and one service pistol.



In 25.6% of hijackings, violence was used and in 74.4%, only threats of violence were used. Of the 89 victims, 20 (22.5%) victims were injured. Two victims were injured with a firearm and one seriously injured in another manner. None of the 190 offenders were injured.



In a hijacking, the levels of injury sustained by the victim with or without a firearm were similar. However, these results are of an exploratory value, since too few cases are recorded of victims in possession of firearms. Further research is required to verify this finding.

Table 58: Cross-tabulation of victims and offenders in possession of a firearm and injuries in hijackings
	Victim in possession of firearm		Victim not in possession of firearm		Offender in possession of firearm		Offender not in possession of firearm
	Count	%	Count	%	Count	%	Count	%
Injury	4	30.8	14	28.6	0	0	0	0
No injury	9	69.2	35	71.4	114	100	28	100

In 46.1% of the cases, property was stolen from victims. On average, 0.5 items were taken. Of all the items stolen, 45.7% were vehicles, 27.6% were cash and 9.5% were firearms. As a result of these 80 hijacking incidents, six firearms leaked from civilian to criminal hands. Applying this ratio to the number of hijackings in 1998 of 15 111 incidents, it can be estimated that 1 133 firearms landed in illegal circulation as a result of hijackings.

Table 59: Cross-tabulation of victims in possession of a firearm and items stolen in hijackings
	Victim in possession of firearm		Victim not in possession of firearm
	Count	%	Count	%
No items stolen	8	61.5	22	44.9
Items stolen	5	38.5	27	55.1
Total	13	100	49	100

Victims in possession of a firearm had fewer items stolen (38.5%) than those not in possession of a firearm. However, these results are of an illustrative value as an insufficient number of cases of victims in possession of firearms were surveyed. Further research is required to verify this finding.