Berea residents on the alert after home invasion
A home invasion in Lawrence Road this week, and a robbery two weeks ago in the same road, has residents living in fear despite their comprehensive security measures.
TWO incidents of crime within a few weeks have left residents in Lawrence Road, Berea uncertain about their safety.
Peter Baley and Gordon McDonald said they were concerned that despite having road security and alarms at their properties, criminals were still able to break into their homes.
Gordon, along with his partner, John Sangerhaus and his daughter, Angelique, were traumatised after two armed men invaded their home on Tuesday night.
According to Gordon, the family was in their rooms around 9.15pm when he heard one of his dogs making a funny barking sound inside the house.
“It was strange as they usually only bark when they are outside, and I heard a man’s voice which I didn’t recognise, saying ‘hey’. I looked out of the door into the passage and saw a man in our passageway. I slammed the bedroom door closed and pressed the panic button. ADT called and I said we had an armed robbery in progress, then I called my friend Kevin to ask him to call the police. I suddenly remembered the 10111 number and called to alert them too. It’s amazing how you lose all rational thought when you are in this situation,” said Gordon.
In the meantime, Angelique had looked out of her bedroom, seen the men, and slammed and locked the door again, only to have it kicked in by the men. She was punched in the face when she attempted to alert a neighbour in the street.
“They grabbed her and told her to tell her dad to open the door or they would shoot her, but we were holding the door as tight shut as possible so they couldn’t get in. John was beside himself that he couldn’t get to his daughter, but we were concerned what the men would do if they had us all together. I went to the window and started screaming for help. The neighbours all pressed their panic buttons to set off their alarms,” he said.
Two neighbours, armed with a baseball bat and sjambok went running to help, only to find the guard at the security hut, situated just metres from the house, bound with cable ties, and two men, armed with a handgun and an R1 rifle. The men ordered the neighbours to lie down in the street.
“The men had broken our gate motor and had already taken my Toyota Fortuner out into the road before they came back into the house, to loot, I think. They only stole John’s wallet though. It’s scary that they had the car ready to go, and they had balaclavas on. We also found a 9mm bullet outside Angelique’s door, so they really were armed. The five minutes it took felt more like 15 minutes!” he said.
Gordon said the men fled in his vehicle, which had only been returned to him that afternoon after repairs. It was found on Wednesday in Morningside.
Peter Baley, who lives a few houses away from Gordon, said it was concerning that this had happened to the family just weeks after his home was broken into on 14 March.
“My wife and I were driving home. As we approached our house we saw a suspicious looking red Audi outside our property with its lights off. I flashed my lights at it and it reversed into our driveway and sped off down the road. As I got next to our driveway I saw our gate and front door open,” he said.
Peter chased the Audi to try and see if he could get a registration number. He said the car turned into Problem Mkhize (Cowey) Road and sped off towards King Dinuzulu (Berea) Road.
“The driver was taking more chances than I was prepared to, so I lost him by the Durban University of Technology,” he said.
According to Peter, his neighbour had heard his alarm going off and the men screaming inside the house. A tenant staying in his outbuilding had pressed the panic button.
“I have security and beams but this didn’t deter them. The time the alarm had gone off and the armed response had arrived was six minutes, and they got away with TVs, cameras, sentimental jewellery and my wife’s running medals and badges. They had tossed cupboards and drawers looking for a safe, which we didn’t have. The loss was substantial,” he said.
He said his tenant had said there were several people involved and the car was full.
“It’s concerning that this is the second incident within weeks in this area. We have street patrols and armed response, it is of great concern,” he said.
