A GROUP of women had a nightmare experience after a night out in Musgrave when they were almost hijacked by four men.
According to one of the women who asked not to be named, it was just after midnight on Thursday when the attempted hijacking and smash-and-grab took place.
“We were in a car dropping off a friend at home when another vehicle pulled in front of us and four men came to our car and attempted to steal our possessions. We assumed they were also trying to take the car. We kicked, screamed and held the hooter down. One girl was repeatedly kicked in the stomach when pulled out the car,” she said.
The woman said residents had come out their homes within seconds armed with brooms and shovels.
“If the neighbors didn’t come when they did, the situation, in our opinion, could’ve escalated. Our real issue was the fact that less than 10 metres away was a Chubb security hut, however Chubb only arrived after being called,” she said, adding that police had arrived 20 minutes later.
“They made no attempt to take statements about the incident nor descriptions of the men involved. Despite the fact that we relayed the incident several times to the police and repeatedly mentioned Chubb’s inexcusable inability to arrive on the scene the police officer still went on to congratulate them for being on the scene. Clearly, everything we said was falling on deaf ears. I feel like I’ve been violated twice, once by the criminals and a second time by the forces in place meant to protect us,” she said.
She said they had the presence of mind to take down the number plate of the men’s vehicle, but were told by the police that they had run the plate but there was no match and suggested the men were probably using switch plates.
“So what are the police or our private security companies doing about this increase in crime? Where is the increase in security presence?” she said.
Alison Bull, national spokesperson for Chubb Fire and Security South Africa, said Chubb Fire and Security South Africa did not offer a guarding service – as in static guarding, as it sold the guarding division to Fidelity Security in April 2006.
“Our armed response division is exactly that – we have fully trained armed response officers who are contracted by paying clients to respond to alarm activations – all these armed response officers patrol the various areas in clearly marked Chubb armed response vehicles. We work hand in hand with the SAPS at all times, however our remit is first and foremost to paying clients, not the general public – as in man in the street. The safety and security of the general public is the responsibility of the SAPS – however as mentioned earlier, where we can assist we do so and at all times cooperate and share information with the SAPS,” she said.
She said the accusations made against the Chubb response officer who arrived in his response vehicle, as well as the two static guards who are employed by the guarding company, were completely baseless.
“Our staff often face situations such as this where they are verbally abused and on the rare occasion, physically abused. They are however taught how to manage such situations and regularly attend courses on communication skills and how to deal with the public when they are unfairly abused as is the case in this situation. The two guards, from the guarding company as well as our own response officer, handled themselves in a professional and admiral manner, and their actions cannot be brought into question considering the circumstances surrounding the build up to this incident,” she said.
