Fed up with crime:Musgrave man sends chilling warning to criminals

MUSGRAVE businessman, Mohammed Sheard has created a stir in the leafy suburb after he painted a clear message to would-be criminals on the boundary wall around his property last weekend.

The message, spread across a few metres on the wall of his self catering business premises in Essenwood Road states: “I’m too tired of crime. So this is a statement of intent. If you’re coming to this area to commit a crime.. I will cut off your scalp, ears, nose, toes and everything in between.”

The bold statement sums up the feeling of many residents in the area. Many passing by stopped to read the message, nodded their heads in agreement, while others went in to meet the bold man behind the message and shake his hand.

During the course of last week, Sheard was moved to add to his statement on the wall. “Bring back the death penalty. Please hoot. The only positive I get from this constitution is freedom of speech!”

However, said Sheard, his bold statement has not been supported by everyone. “My wife is not happy, she wants me to remove it off the wall and has even asked our employees to take it off,” he said smiling. He has had a call from a neighbour who felt the writing was “unnecessary” as there were other ways of dealing with crime. A “peace loving Rastafarian” also confronted him about the violence in the message and asked him to remove it, but Sheard stuck to his guns.

When asked why he decided to make the statement and why now and on his own property wall, Sheard said it was a “culmination of years of hearing and reading about awful crimes. He said said a few incidents over the last two weeks had driven him venting his feelings on the wall. “I was driving with a staff member on a Friday two weeks ago near the DHS rugby field and Vause Road when my employee told me he saw three guys breaking into a parked car. I stopped the car and we ran after them they split running down St Thomas and Berea Park I caught the one down St Thomas Road,” Sheard said. Another passerby caught a youngster near Berea Park while othe third managed to get away.

“We found out the three suspects were 18-year-olds from Umlazi who had bunked school to come to Musgrave and break into cars. Police found a hammer in their backpack,” he said in exasperation.

Sheard explained that things got worse the following week when he assisted a Blue Security guard in Musgrave. He remembers the look of complete fear on the faces of a woman and her daughter after a man had entered their property. “It was last Monday at 5.45am. The man was in their yard and hadn’t even got into the home but that image of terror on their faces is imprinted in my head,” he said.

“Our country is degrading to such an extent that citizens are under citizen arrest in their own homes while the criminals roam free. Crime has become such a matter of fact.”

Also a victim of a burglary a few years ago, Sheard recalled feeling angered having his rights, home and privacy violated. “This is also a message to the public and neighbours to wake up from their stupor. People can’t continue living selfish lives cocooned in their homes behind high walls. When we witness a crime in the street we turn a blind eye- you can’t be happy living like that!” he said.

Residents may be divided on whether or not such a bold statement belongs on wall of a business in the area, but many passersby seemed quite happy to see someone take a stand.

Buhle Ngcobo, a student at UZKN said she was not alarmed by the message. “He is sending a message to criminals to stop crime or else. It’s very creative writing on your own wall,” she added while walking past.

“I think this is amazing! People are fed up with crime,” Toni Wearne said. The mother who returned to South Africa after living in the UK said she hated the increasing crime in the country. Her family had become victims of crime while walking between Glenwood and Musgrave and she now protects herself with a tazer when walking. “It is so interesting, I want to give him a cheer,” she added.

“His writing on the wall, pretty much sums people’s thoughts on crime in the whole country never mind the Berea,” said a member of Berea Crime Watch.

Sheard said he would consider removing the writing. “When the time comes I might take it off the wall but at this stage the cause is bigger than anything else because crime is crippling people, robbing them of their lives and putting them through terrible emotional trauma,” he said.