Whilst local residents live in fear each day, due to the high crime in the area, police management at the Laudium police station, seemingly do not care about the sentiments of the community, as clearly there is no attempt by the local cops to gain the trust of the community, as partners in fighting crime.
Despite the Laudium Sun publishing each week, the concerns of the community and obtaining comments from the police about the crime in the area, police have failed to meet the community and listen first-hand as to what the issues are, concerning poor police performance in the area. Hardest hit by crime, are seemingly the elderly, the pensioners who remain vulnerable and live in fear. This is evident, following a recent incident, whereby the property of a pensioner couple was invaded by ‘uninvited guests’. It is the second time that the pensioners faced the harsh reality and severity of crime in the area, within a period of less than a month, the first being on New Year’s eve and the latest being last Thursday, in the early hours of the morning.
Pensioner Hansa Bhana (76), who together with her husband has been residing on Taj Street for many years, told the Laudium Sun of the latest incident, “We were away in Randburg at my daughter’s place, as we go quite often, especially during festive seasons. Our son from London was also around and joined us. So on the Thursday, whilst being in a happy mood as we were with our children in Randburg, at around 12:30 in the afternoon, my husband received a call from our alarm company, ADT, informing us that our alarm had just gone off. Although they told him that they would send a patrol car to check, my husband decided to call our neighbour, Mr Soma, who always keeps an eye on our home while we are away, just to go see what was going on at our house. As our neighbour opened the gate leading to the back and walked into our yard, he found two guys there and asked them what was going on and what they were doing in the yard. They had the audacity to tell him that they were just cleaning our yard and picking up the papers. Mr Soma told my husband that whilst confronting the two, his phone rang, which was my husband calling him again, and when he answered it, the two guys made a quick run for it. Our neighbour was still there on the call with my husband, when ADT arrived. He explained to them what had happened and that the thieves had gotten away. The one guy from ADT jumped over the gate on the other side, to check if there was anyone else in the back of the yard, but there was no one. He then noticed that the back window and burglar bar were broken. Our neighbour, together with ADT, opened the door leading into our house to check if any of these thieves were around and to see if they had stolen anything. It seems that the alarm beams in the passage were triggered when the thieves entered our home. Thank God nothing was stolen and the insurance has paid for the damages.
“Thankfully when the thieves entered our house the first time our alarm went off again. We suspect that the same thieves came back again to see if they could steal something, because when the alarm went off the first time, my husband looked through the window and saw two guys running away. Laudium is getting far too dangerous and we as elders are very scared to live like this, as we could be attacked at any time in our own homes. A home is supposed to be a place of safety and security, but we are so tensed and living as prisoners in our own homes, because of the high crime. I plead with the police to please patrol around our area and for the community of Laudium to stand united to fight the crime, which is destroying this once beautiful place.”
