HOUSE ROBBERY – Frederik Potgieter from Tarentaal Park in Huilbos Avenue went out and saw a stranger in the housing complex on Wednesday, May 4, at about 03:00 in the morning. After Mr. Potgieter returned to his home, he heard a sound near the front door and went to investigate said Constable. Maria Maswanganye, police spokesperson.
Mr. Potgieter opened his security gate to investigate the sound. He then ended up staring at a robber at the door. The robber immediately grabbed at the security gate and a second suspect showed up.
Mr. Potgieter tried to close the sliding door, but the villain stopped him. One of them had a wooden club and the other a screwdriver, Maswanganye said.
The robber with the screwdriver stabbed Mr. Potgieter in his left hand. Mr. Potgieter then called to his wife to get their gun and lock herself in a room.
He also escaped the robbers somehow and locked himself in a bathroom, Maswanganye said. After it became quiet, Mr. Potgieter went out and found their television, two mobile phones and his wife’s handbag was gone.
His wife, who did not want to be named, said on inquiry that she was grateful to the Lord that her husband survived the attack.
He received seven stitches on his ring finger. She said security fences around the complex were previously cut and thefts occurred in the area, but this attack was the last thing they expected.
The day after Mr. Potgieter was attacked, two men targeted the property of Johann and Glynis Swanepoel at the Shalom housing complex in Roodepoort outside Bela-Bela.
Stoffel Lotter, the Swanepoels’s neighbor, said on inquiry that he had noticed two men entering at the complex gate shortly before 16:00.
Mr. Lotter went to town and later returned, but he said that he did not suspect any trouble at that time.
However, he suddenly heard someone scream and saw the two men running away from the Swanepoels’s house.
According to Maswanganye, Glynis was in her room and listening to the radio about 15:30 when their dogs started barking.
Apparently Glynis went to the kitchen when she was confronted and grabbed by the robbers.
The robbers took her to the bedroom, tied her hands with a nightgown and covered her head before they left her flat on her stomach, Maswanganye said.
The robbers then ransacked the house.
After the robbers fled, Glynis freed herself and called her husband. The neighborhood watch and the police were also called.
Lotter said the robbers gained access to the house by breaking down the security gate at the Swanepoels’s kitchen door. A major search was launched, but the robbers were gone.
Jewellery, cameras, a watch and cash were stolen as well.
According to neighborhood watch members, the robbers possibly fled on the gravel road from Shalom to the Thabazimbi road. They were picked up by a red 1400 pickup truck.
The Swanepoels could not be reached for comment.
Police are investigating both robberies. No arrests have been made.
South Africa Today – South Africa News
