Pretoria – A teacher put her life at risk to protect her young learners as three armed men robbed a crèche in Ga-Rankuwa this week, Pretoria News reported on Wednesday.
The armed gang made off with R40 000 in cash on Monday, originally earmarked for a school outing, the newspaper reported.
The large sum of money had been collected at R260 per child for an excursion to Aventura Warmbaths in Bela Bela, Limpopo, scheduled for Thursday.
A teacher, who did not want to be named by News24, said she wasn’t prepared to let the children see gun-wielding men robbing the crèche in Ga-Rankuwa.
She stood in front of the men and pleaded with them not to harm the children, the Pretoria newspaper reported.
The robbers then calmly locked up staff in one room, and the children in another, before leaving the premises with the cash.
They also made off with cellphones and laptops.
The teacher said the men knew what they were looking for, having asked directly for the supervisor, who handles the finances at the crèche.
Gauteng police said a case of robbery was being investigated, but no arrests had been made.
News24 contacted the teacher on Thursday, but she was unwilling to provide follow-up interviews while the case was ongoing.
Armed robberies on the rise
The spate of armed robberies on soft targets has been on the rise this week.
On Tuesday, News24 reported on two robberies occurring within minutes of each other in KwaZulu-Natal.
In the first attack, an unknown number of men stormed a Checkers outlet in King Shaka Street in Stanger in an apparent pension payout heist.
Police spokesperson Colonel Jay Naicker said an “undisclosed amount of cash” was taken in the heist which played out in minutes.
Another incident occurred just 15 minutes later at a shop on Durban’s Umgeni Road.
R350 000 in cash was taken during this incident, a police source confirmed.
In Johannesburg, two people were killed in an attempted robbery at Clearwater Mall, west of Johannesburg, on Tuesday morning, News24 reported.
”I thought there were crackers going off,” marketing manager for the popular centre, Cecile Braun, said after six people attempted to steal cellphones and laptops from a vehicle at the Standard Bank entrance.
All of the suspects were apprehended in the parking lot.
Police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Katlego Mogale said a group of men attacked a truck delivering Apple goods to a store in the mall.
She said that as the group was offloading the goods into their own van, officers pounced and a shoot-out ensued.
One suspected robber died at the scene, while another died on the way to hospital. Two others were wounded, and another two were arrested.
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