Residents in the Laudium area continue living in fear of the high crime in their surrounds and despite barricading themselves in their homes, thieves continue to target them, without any fear of being caught.
Clearly the security measures being taken by residents to secure themselves and their homes, is not deterring thieves from entering their properties. Despite most homes in the area having high walls, security gates and even razor barbed wire and electric fencing, the brazen thieves are not deterred. Despite residents complaining of poor police patrols and even poor police reaction, in responding to crime, there seems to be no interest by the Laudium police management, to attend to the concerns of the community.
In one of the recent break-ins into a home, a Laudium family from Extension 3, remain in shock, after thieves entered their property during the early hours of the morning, this past Tuesday (Mar 22). The Bengal Street family, is still recovering from a shocking ordeal, during which the father was shot in his stomach by gun wielding thugs who robbed him at his Marabastad shop. The father remained critical in hospital since January 6, and the family is understandably highly traumatized by the latest additional incident. The father, Abdul Rashid Carrim (Amoo) has now been discharged from hospital, but remains weak and has not yet fully recovered.
Amoo’s son, Ali, who does not live with his parents, told the Laudium Sun, “Two thieves entered my parent’s property on Bengal Street in the early morning of Tuesday. My mum Rihana told me that she was asleep when she was awoken by a noise coming from the yard. She did not switch on the room lights but checked her cellphone and saw that the time was 3am. She then silently stepped into my sister’s room, to check if she was okay. After finding my sister asleep my mum left her room. Just then, my mum heard another sound coming from the back part of the yard. She then decided to wake my sister up. According to my mum, it sounded to her as if someone had opened their garage door. But she still didn’t switch on any lights and instead decided to peep from the bedroom window of my sister, but she could not see anyone. Just then my mum and my sister heard a loud bang and the garage door closing. That is when the two of them realized that there was definitely someone in our yard. My mother said that she immediately told my sister to switch on all the lights so that the thieves would know that people in the home were awake and hopefully the thieves would run away. Whilst my sister was busy with the lights, my mother kept a watch from the window and that is when she spotted two thieves running out, by jumping the high wall at the back of the house, carrying some things in their hands. My mum then immediately called me and I told her not to go out until the police arrived. I then quickly called the police, but they took some time before arriving. We have goods in the garage and clearly the thieves were after that. They stole a few items, but thankfully my mum did not panic and go out. Instead they switched on many of the lights. Perhaps that is why the thieves ran of. The back of all the houses in the area, is a big security risk, as it faces the open hills, which are used by criminals to attack homes in the area.”
Ali added that he was disappointed with the police closing the docket without any investigation. “I am very upset that after my mum opened a case, obviously with the hope of the police catching the culprits, we were informed by the police a day later, via SMS, that the case had been closed. Clearly the police did not investigate the case properly. The police are supposed to be there to protect us and help us, not be spectators to the harm these criminals are causing to the community.”
Sergeant Simon Chokoe, of the Laudium Police, told the Laudium Sun, “I am aware of a case being opened , but I am not aware of it being closed. I will look into this matter.”
