Fed up with crime, an Umbilo woman wrestled with a cat burglar who had climbed through the bedroom window of her second-floor flat, before shoving him off a ledge while he was trying to escape.
Prospect Road resident Jennifer Harris, 55, said she had been watching a movie on her laptop at 1.15am on Sunday September 6, 2015, when she saw a man climb on to her window ledge.
The burglar had used an aluminium garden stool to climb up on to an air conditioner unit to reach the window.
A victim of four petty robberies, including a mugging in Durban, Harris was not about to take the break-in lying down.
“I heard him breathe out as he came on to the ledge. It was a steep climb. He was out of breath. Instinctively, I was up and on to him before he could step into the room.
“We wrestled on the bed as I tried to prevent him from grabbing my handbag and laptop. He thought he could grab something and get out,” said the retired estate agent and widow.
Fleeing a beating, the burglar made for the window through which he had come in.
Harris said on his way to the window, the burglar grabbed her computer’s external hard drive.
“His foot was on the air con box below the window and his body was almost out of the window. I grabbed his hooded jacket from behind and told him, ‘You’re not taking this, you bastard!’
“This was the last straw. I held on to him with all my strength. I screamed so loud, I thought neighbours would rush to my aid and arrest the guy,” she said.
Harris was not prepared to give up. She held on for several minutes until her hand became sore. Realising no one was responding to her screams for help, she decided to let him go.
“I told him, ‘you are going down much harder than you came up’. With all my strength, I shoved him off the ledge. He landed with a thud on some bricks in the garden and let out a few cries of pain. He then hobbled and jumped over a fence,” Harris said…
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