Douglasdale home attempted robbery leaves family traumatized
A family's worst nightmare came true when thieves, later linked to several other home robberies, broke in during load-shedding.
Mandy Pienaar and her family are still reeling from the traumatic events of March 19, when two men took advantage of the darkness during load-shedding to break into their Douglasdale home at approximately 01:30.
“It was like a horror movie. My husband is a heavy sleeper, but something caught his attention. He described it as the faint sound of a sliding door just before it latches… A tiny, almost imperceptible noise. Groggy and disoriented, he lay there wondering if he was dreaming. He thought he saw me standing at the window, but it was pitch black due to the power outage. He rationalised that maybe I had let the dogs out, but that didn’t make sense, given the circumstances.
“Then, he heard another noise and decided to investigate. As he pulled back the curtain, his heart racing, he was met with a terrifying sight: two men in balaclavas standing outside. His loud scream sent them fleeing into the night.”
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The thieves, caught on CCTV footage, entered through a vacant house behind Pienaar’s residence, which had been damaged by an electrical fault fire in December, and is under renovations. Pienaar said they jumped over the fence into their yard, taking advantage of the darkness and lack of security due to the load-shedding.
One of the thieves can be seen on the footage crawling like a toddler to avoid detection, a chilling and disturbing image that Pienaar will never forget.
“We were fortunate that we got the footage of the incident, but it wasn’t until the next morning, when our solar panels regained power, that we could retrieve it. What we saw was chilling. The footage revealed that the intruders had been on our property for two hours. They attempted to break into every door and window, including my son’s bedroom, where they tried to gain entry for 45 minutes. I’ll be honest. They could see he was there.”
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The family barricaded themselves in their bedroom, waiting for help to arrive. Fortunately, their security company responded quickly. Pienaar opened a case at the police station the next morning. Ironically, she lives only 50m away from the station, which she finds ‘funny’ given the circumstances.
Pienaar learned that her neighbour had been hit by the same thieves six times in the past few weeks. She said the footage from the neighbour’s security cameras showed the same individuals, and the police reportedly confirmed it.
She said the experience has left her family shaken, especially her 16-year-old son, who is struggling to cope with the trauma. Pienaar said this was their first experience with a home invasion, and they had previously felt safe in their neighbourhood.
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We reached out to Lieutenant Colonel Mpho Tshetlhane, corporate communication co-ordinator from the Johannesburg District, for an update on the case, however, there was no information provided at the time we went to print.
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