No answers from police for Rynfield couple since armed home robbery

Five armed men gained access to the Botha’s property and house in Honiball Street, Rynfield at around 7.30am on May 14.

Carolyn Botha and her husband, Nico, moved into the house in 1999. It is, however, not a safe haven anymore.

According to her, crime has escalated drastically over the past two years.

“This house has always felt like home, but now we are even considering moving,” Carolyn said.

“This armed robbery was the final straw. I feel so unsafe.”

She said five years ago intruders stole their bakkie.

“Two years ago our neighbours’ house was ransacked. They sold what they had left and relocated to the UK.

“Our neighbour on the other side has experienced two break-ins in the last two years . He sold what he had left and moved into an old age home.

“His house was then left empty for over a year, which just caused more problems,” said Carolyn.
She showed the City Times CCTV footage of the May 14 intruders using the empty house next door to gain access to their house the morning the armed robbery happened.

“The three who were in the house escaped over our front gate, which I saw on camera footage after the incident.”

May 14

Carolyn said on the day of the robbery it was overcast.

“Nico usually goes for morning jogs, but luckily decided to stay this specific morning.

“My cat Munchkin came sprinting into the house but I didn’t think anything of it at first. My husband let the cats out for their morning ritual before coming back to bed.

“Munchkin was a stray when I found her last July and she was only three months old when I brought her home.

“She is a cat who jumps easily and doesn’t really want to be around people, except my husband and I.

“When my husband activated the security beams, she came bounding in from outside, so I didn’t think anything of it. But then she tried to hide in my cupboard, with the hair on her back standing a mile high. This was a bit unusual as she was petrified.”

Gun

“Then, the beams sounded the alarm. Nico grabbed his gun, but by the time he got to the door the suspects were already in the house. Two of them were in the passage. The third one I think must have triggered the alarm because he was trailing behind.

“Gun in hand, Nico approached our bedroom door to see what was happening. They charged to the door at the same time.

“Nico was trying to force it closed while they tried to push it open. I felt sick to think they had been that close to our bedroom door.

“I was screaming while they fought my husband to open the door and I called the police immediately, while screaming at Nico to get the door closed.”

Nico fired the first warning shot into the wall, hoping this would make them run away, but they continued to fight to push the door open.

“They were pushing so hard at the door that Nico fell over into the cupboard, hurting himself. This led to another shot going off, which must have scared them because they stopped pushing to get inside.

My husband managed to lock it.

ALSO READ: 

Couple tied up in early-morning robbery in Vlei Road

“You can’t see much of the passage from my side of the bed, so crouched behind the cupboard, Nico fired three shots through the bedroom door.”

While all of this was happening Carolyn had also called their private security company, CMS, and pressed the panic button.

“I was on the phone with my son, who lives in Bapsfontein, when another two shots went off, but this time it wasn’t my husband.

“I don’t know if they fired the shots to warn us not to follow them or what, but the noise was so close and loud.

“We were still in the bedroom and they could have been anywhere, judging by the sound of the shots.

“My son had heard the shots while we were on the phone, which only scared him more. He left Bapsfontein and was with us in eight minutes.

“He even arrived before CMS and the police. My camera footage showed a CMS vehicle parked right at the back where the men broke in. yet it still took them 12 minutes to arrive on the scene.” she explained.

Eyewitness

An eyewitness, who was walking close to the premises with his family at the time of the robbery, saw the CMS vehicle parked not far from the crime scene and saw the intruders jump over the gate and run into nearby bushes.

The eyewitness said they removed some of their items of clothing and then kept walking away from the house like nothing had happened.

“When the cops eventually arrived, no one wanted to speak to the eyewitness who had actually seen these intruders and who knew where they had dropped clothes,” said Carolyn.

“He walked around trying to speak to almost every police officer on site and everyone ignored him so he eventually left the scene and said if they need him they must let him know. His statement was only taken three weeks after the incident.

“There was also a random piece of paper lying on the passage floor where the intruders were standing.

“I explained to the police that nothing had been taken or moved, but this piece of paper doesn’t belong to me, it wasn’t there before the incident occurred.

“I had spring-cleaned my house the night before so there was no way this belonged to me, so it had to have been evidence.

“I didn’t touch the paper and neither did Nico to ensure it could be used as evidence, but the police ignored us.

“When they left, neither officers nor forensics took the piece of paper with them

“They had cordoned off the whole house – I wasn’t allowed to make coffee or change my clothes.

“There were about 25 policemen in my house and when I asked why there were so many of them the answer I got was, ‘usually when we get calls like this we are coming to collect bodies, so we didn’t know how many we were to expect’.

“I was utterly disgusted with the response, let alone the fact that they were late and forensics only showed up at 2pm, even though the incident occurred at 7.30am.”

Medicine

According to Carolyn, she and her husband inspected the piece of paper and found it was a receipt for medicine.

“It had the name of the person the script was for, as well as the amount paid so we decided to take it to the pharmacy to, hopefully, find answers – and, boy, did we find answers!”

After handing over the receipt and explaining the situation, the chemist tracked the receipt and pulled up an image from the day the customer made this purchase.

ALSO READ: 

Family tied up during Lakefield house robbery

The next bit of news was totally unexpected.

“The pharmacist told us to sit down before promptly telling us that the image was that of a police officer. He backed this up with a photo from the day of purchase in which you could clearly see his name, uniform, firearm – everything belonging to a police officer – as he paid for his purchase,” Carolyn explained.

“I couldn’t believe it. When I approached the police regarding this, the response I got was that they had spoken to the police officer and he said that he must have dropped it when helping to assist at the crime scene.

“This was a blatant lie because the receipt had been in the house before the police, CMS or my son arrived – we had been staring at the paper on the floor for a good hour or two before they arrived at the crime scene.”

According to Carolyn, nothing has been done since the incident in May, and she wants answers.

Benoni SAPS spokesperson Capt Nomsa Sekele responds: “The investigation is still ongoing in this case. W are waiting for ballistic and DNA reports from forensics,” she said.

Two other residents, who wish to remain anonymous, speak on their experiences of crime in the area:

Anonymous 1: “On August 22 at about 1am we had intruders break-in and steal a TV and a Nintendo WII. They took out a window to enter and set off the alarm, which made them run away. They dropped a cellphone on the way out which the police took with them but still no news from police.

Anonymous 2: “We also live in Honiball Road and had someone jump over the wall and steal a bicycle belonging to our gardener. We have had many problems with our alarm going off constantly, at all times of the night and day. It’s almost as if someone is deliberately doing it to tempt us to turn it off. It seems as though the house is constantly under observation, like they are waiting for the right moment to strike.”

Carolyn also mentioned seeing two young men walking up Honiball Road earlier this year taking photos of all the houses using an expensive-looking camera and cellphone.

When approached by residents their response was:

“We are teenagers, this is what we do, it’s for Instagram”.

The residents pushed them for answers which eventually led to them swearing at the residents and getting verbally aggressive.

The security guard took the camera and phone and removed the images before sending them on their way.

* CMS was approached for comment but none was received at the time of going to print.